cinematographic art & documentation · bucharest(unatc) - pov hybrid storytelling in virtual...

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Cinematographic Art & Documentation (CA&D)

Journal of Cinematographic Studies, No. 20, 2017 Biannual publication

UNATC Press ISSN 2501-8221

ISSN-L 1844-2803 National University of Drama and Film, Bucharest,

I.L. Caragiale (UNATC) Cinematographic Art & Documentation

Journal of Cinematographic Studies, no. 20, 2017

Editorial Board

Editor in Chief Professor DOINA RUŞTI

National University of Drama and Film "I.L. Caragiale” (UNATC), Bucharest

Associate Editors Professor SERGIU ANGHEL

National University of Drama and Film "I.L. Caragiale” (UNATC), Bucharest Professor NICOLETTA ISAR

Institute of Art History, Department of Arts & Cultural Studies,University of Copenhagen Professor EFSTRATIA OKTAPODA

Université Paris-Sorbonne Professor ENRIQUE NOGUERAS

Granada University LINDA MARIA BAROS, Ph.D.

Université Paris-Sorbonne

Redactors ADRIANA TITIENI, Ph.D, National University of Political Studies and Public

Administration (SNSPA), Bucharest Professor RAMONA MIHĂILĂ, Ph.D., “Dimitrie Cantemir” University, Bucharest

BIANCA ZBARCEA, MA, Bucharest University (English Language reviewer) BEATRICE MEDA, National University of Drama and Film, Bucharest,

"I.L. Caragiale” (UNATC), Bucharest

Advisory Editors Professor ADRIAN TITIENI

National University of Drama and Film "I.L. Caragiale” (UNATC), Bucharest Professor NICOLAE MANDEA

National University of Drama and Film "I.L. Caragiale” (UNATC), Bucharest JULIETA C. PAULESC, Ph. D.c

Arizona State University Associate Prof. OVIDIU GEORGESCU

National University of Drama and Film "I.L. Caragiale” (UNATC), Bucharest Professor DAN VASILIU

National University of Drama and Film "I.L. Caragiale” (UNATC), Bucharest

Cover: Alexandru Papadopol, in “Acasă la tata”, 2015 (r. Andrei Cohn)

SUMMARY

I. Cinematographic Art

Alexandra NICU Ph.Dc., National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), Bucharest - A Comparative Study of Familial Patterns in Romanian Cinema.

Michel AROUIMI, Associate Professor, Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale ‑ ULCO. France - Le père-obstacle, thème-clef des films d’horreur.

Associate Professor Maria-Luiza DUMITRU OANCEA, University of Bucharest -The Chronicles of Narnia – the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (movie release: 2005), a reinterpretation of the ancient pagan myths and symbols, along with the popular archetypes in a Christian mindset.

Adriana TITIENI, Ph.D, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA) -The literary character and the movie character. Case study: the role of Anetta from Youth Without Youth (2007) - by Fr. Coppola and Eliade’s character.

Ioana MISCHIE, Ph.D.c National University of Theatre and Film “I.L. Caragiale”, Bucharest(UNATC) - PoV hybrid storytelling in virtual reality and its axiological implications (Case study: The AI Comrade)

Andreea ARCHIP, MA, University of Bucharest, TV, Digi 24 TV - Is social documentary changing Romania?

II. Cultural Studies

Ioan POP-CURŞEU, Ph.D, Université Babeş-Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca - Culture, civilisation, art: comment les médias de masse et le cinéma ont-ils (re) façonné ces concepts ?

Victor GINGIU, Ph. D, West University, Timișoara - The Imaginary of the old Romanian weaves. Research for the homonymous film

Manuel STĂNESCU, PhD, researcher, Institute for Political Studies of Defence and Military History, Bucharest - An evocative documentary - General Constantin Christescu.

VENCZEL Peter, PhD., Babeș-Bolyai University, Faculty of Theatre and Television, Cinematography-Photo-Media Section, Cluj-Napoca - New horizons. Timbrality and orchestrations after the apparition of new electro-acoustic and digital instruments due to advanced techniques and the birth of progressive rock.

III. Filmmaker’s remarks

Ovidiu GEORGESCU, PhD, National University of Theatre and Film “I.L. Caragiale”, Bucharest - A Creative and Immersive 360 Virtual Reality Experience.

Gendered Responsibilities A Comparative Study of Familial Patterns in Romanian Cinema

Alexandra NICU Ph.D., 1

National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), Bucharest

Abstract

Stemming from cultivation theory, this article analyzes film patterns relating to household responsibilities ascribed to mothers and fathers in Romanian films. The comparative study aims to highlight if, and to what degree, patterns identified in Romanian films launched in the 1970-1980 time period resemble those used in films launched in 2005-2015, with a focus on household responsibilities, raising children, and financial contribution. The findings are part of a larger doctoral research focused on determining family dynamics patterns in Romanian films.

Keywords: family dynamics, cinema, cultivation theory, patterns, the self

Introduction

According to the cultivation theory, audio-visual media incorporate specific behavioral and situational models into their messages--patterns--which are used to construct their specific, fictitious symbolic universe. If users are frequently exposed to pattern-rich messages, then they are likely to internalize those specific patterns, which, in turn, can alter their perception of real life

events, situations, social interactions etc. (Gerbner et al., 2002). This assimilation can lead to stable attitudes, which can then have the potential of being transferred and utilized in real life situations (Nabi & Sullivan, 2001). In this sense, mass media incorporate standardized, sometimes stereotypical behaviors into their messages, which have the potential to induce behavioral changes in the spectator in reality--cultivation effects (Gerbner et al., 2002). In determining mass media patterns, one needs to focus on the overall

Alexandra Nicu has a Master’s Degree in Communication and Advertising at the National University of 1

Political Studies and Public Administration, in Bucharest, Romania, and is currently a Ph.D student at the same University. Her interest in cinema was sparked by participating in the multicultural Comenius Project – “Images des jeunes / Jeunes dans les images”, organized by Gheorghe Lazar National College, Bucharest, and continues with her PhD thesis, focused on Romanian cinematography. E-mail: [email protected].

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Cinematographic Art & Documentation, 20, 2017

emergence of specific models, not on particular messages, in order to determine the symbols and information which might be inserted into the collective memory and which can be stabilized through repeated viewing (Signorelli, 2015). Therefore, the patterns are continuously incorporated into the messages.

Another facet of cultivation encompasses the processes which can lead to the aforementioned cultivation effects, mainly m a i n s t r e a m i n g a n d r e s o n a n c e . Mainstreaming refers to the main cultural current, which is emphasized throughout mass media messages, thus positioning it as the main criterion for comparing other subcultures and currents (Gerbner et al., 2002). Therefore, a specific trajectory is mapped out through mass media patterns, clearly delineating between desirable and undesirable behaviors and attitudes. Another aspect is resonance, where the media messages are similar to experiences the viewer has gained organically, a.i. from its own life (Gerbner et al., 2002). Thus, spectators who can find a resemblance between their reality and the one shown on television or in films can have a higher likelihood of being subjected to cultivation effects (Shrum & Bishak, 2011), since the media legitimize the experience, suggesting universality.

Apart from the potential mass media patterns have, the audience's reliance on mediated content is also of importance, especially in relation to constructing one's self. The process of forming one's self in a mediated landscape is heavily influenced by the media messages one consumes (Thompson, 1998). Also, the more one's self and identity are structured via mediated symbols, the more an individual will rely on media messages, thus forming a sort of d e p e n d e n c y i n r e g a r d t o m e d i a consumption (Thompson, 1998).

Furthermore, the binary construction of gender, imposed social and contextual elements (Butler, 1990) can lead to a disparity regarding responsibilities, status, and can result in an imbalanced power dynamic. Gender roles are made up of norms and social expectations (Eagly & Chvala , 1986) , which can lead to stereotypical depictions. Furthermore, though mothers are entering the workforce, they still deal with the majority of household and child caring responsibilities, whereas the fathers mostly attend to

recreational activities when the offspring is concerned. This can lead to an altered perception, mainly viewing women as inherently inferior to men, since they are ascribed the common duties, whereas the men take part in exceptional activities (Caplan, 2000). Societal assumptions can define one's own perspective on the assigned roles, differentiated by gender, as well as the expectations in regard to others.

Therefore, if the self can be constructed v i a m a s s m e d i a m e s s a g e s , w h i c h incorporate behavioral patterns, it stands to reason that some of the attitudes observed as socially desirable in a fictitious universe can be assimilated and alter an individual's perception regarding real life. In this sense, the main objective of this research is to determine which patterns specifically ascribe a designated role within familial parameters, in order to ascertain whether there is a clear delineation based on gender.

Methodology

In order to determine if, and to what extent, Romanian films incorporate behavioral patterns based on gender roles within a familial context, a content analysis method must be employed. Therefore, an analysis grid has been constructed, to determine these specific patterns relating to three categories of responsibilities: household, child care, and financial aspects. The unit of measure for the content analysis grid was a shot (a continuous film sequence, not interrupted through means of film editing). The research focused on characters which are clearly conscribed to a familial context, therefore part of a family dynamic.

Since the extent of this study is of a comparative nature, in order to determine whether patterns relating to responsibilities have been continuously incorporated into mass media messages, in a sort of cycle, throughout Romanian films, two categories of f i lms have been analyzed, each pertaining to a specific time period, 1970-1980, and 2005-2015, respectively. The films were selected using two criteria. First, the total number of spectators, as decided upon by CNC (The National Centre of Cinematography, 2017) for the films released in the 1970-1980 period. For the ones released in the 2005-2015 period, another level of classification was added, as a result of the way creative efforts are

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l e g i t i m i z e d i n t h e c u r r e n t f i l m i c environment, namely their presence at international film festivals, such as Cannes or Berlinale. In this sense, 15 productions were selected for each period, as follows:

1970-1980 films: 1. "Nea Mărin miliardar" (1978, trad.

"Uncle Mărin, billionaire"), directed by Sergiu Nicolaescu, with 14,645,586 spectators;

2. "Păcală" (1974), directed by Geo Saizescu, with 14,644,029 spectators;

3. "Mihai Viteazul" (1971, trad. "Michael the Brave"), directed by Sergiu Nicolaescu, with 13,340,304 spectators;

4. "Ștefan cel Mare" (1975, trad. “Stephen The Great”), directed by Mircea Drăgan, with 7,372,294 spectators;

5.“Nemuritorii” (1974, trad. “The Immortals”), directed by Sergiu Nicolaescu, with 7,292,165 spectators;

6. “Cu mîinile curate” (1972, trad. “With Clean Hands”), directed by Sergiu Nicolaescu, with 7,162,552 spectators;

7. “Profetul, aurul și ardelenii” (1977, t r a d . “ T h e P r o p h e t , G o l d a n d Transylvanians”), directed by Dan Piţa, with 6,831,053;

8. “Aventuri la Marea Neagră” (1972, trad. “Adventures at the Black Sea”), directed by Savel Știopul, with 6,769,780 spectators;

9. “Drumul oaselor” (1979, trad. “The Road of Bones”), directed by Doru Năstase, with 6“.587,344 spectators;

10. “Revanșa” (1978, trad . “The Revenge”), directed by Sergiu Nicolaescu, with 6,359,884 spectators;

11. “Un comisar acuză” (1974, trad. “A Commissioner Accuses”), directed by Sergiu Nicolaescu, with 6,146,991 spectators;

12. “Haiducii lui Șaptecai” (1971, trad. “The Outlaws of Seven-Horses”), directed by Dinu Cocea, with 6,003,214 spectators;

13. “Fraţii Jderi” (1974, trad. “The Jder Brothers”), directed by Mircea Drăgan, with 5,928,564;

14. “Brigada diverse în alertă” (1971, trad. “The Diverse Brigade in alert”), directed by Mircea Drăgan, with 5,649,946 spectators;

15. “Pruncul, petrolul și ardelenii” (1979, trad. “The Baby, Oil and Transylvanians”), directed by Dan Piţa, with 5,528,361 spectators;

2005-2015 films: 1. “Poziţia copilului” (2013, trad. ”Child's

Pose”), directed by Călin Peter Netzer, with 112,134 spectators;

2. “4 luni, 3 săptămâni și 2 zile” (2007, trad. “4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days”), directed by Cristian Mungiu, with 89,670 spectators;

3. “Aferim!” (2015), directed by Radu Jude, with 75,343spectators;

4. “Despre oameni și melci” (2012, trad. “Of Men and snails”), directed by Tudor Giurgiu, with 61,691 spectators;

5. “După dealuri” (2012, trad. “Beyond the Hills”), directed by Cristian Mungiu, with 52,159 spectators;

6. “Eu când vreau să fluier, fluier” (2010, trad. “When I Want to Whistle, I Whistle”), directed by Florin Șerban, with 51,626 spectators;

7. “Moartea domnului Lăzărescu” (2005, trad. “The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu”), directed by Cristi Puiu, with 29,065 spectators;

8. “Amintiri din Epoca de Aur” (2009, trad. “Memories from the Golden Age”), directed by Cristian Mungiu, with 28,764 spectators;

9. “Restul e tăcere” (2008, trad. “The Rest Is Silence”), directed by Nicolae Caranfil, with 22,970 spectators;

1 0 . “ C a l i f o r n i a Dreamin' (Nesfârș i t)” (2007, trad . “California Dreamin' (Endless)”), directed by Crist ian Nemescu, with 22,846 spectators;

11. “Boogie” (2008), directed by Radu Muntean, with 18,326 spectators;

12. “Cum mi-am petrecut sfârșitul lumii” (2006, trad. “How I Spent the End of the World”), directed by Cătălin Mitulescu, with 15,752 spectators;

13. “Loverboy” (2011), directed by Cătălin Mitulescu, with 14,586 spectators;

14. “Marţi, după Crăciun” (2010, trad. “Tuesday, After Christmas”), directed by Radu Muntean, with 14,310 spectators;

15. “A fost sau n-a fost?” (2006, trad. “12:08 East of Bucharest”), directed by C p r n e l i u P o r u m b o i u , w i t h 1 3 , 3 5 5 spectators.

Findings

The content analysis revealed a prevalent t r e n d i n b o t h p e r i o d s , t h e f i l m s incorporating a specific set of patterns for

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each category. In this sense, relating to household responsibilities in the 1970-1980 period, we can see a clear delineation between assigned roles, based on the parents' respective genders, shown in Table 1.1. Most of the household chores were ascribed to the mother or wife (59.6%), whereas the husband only participated in limited capacity. Moreover, the subcategory defining an equal share of chores between husband and wife is significantly lower (12.2%) than that of the child taking on household responsibilities (26.3%). Also noteworthy is the fact that in most cases, the child was a female, not male. This shows a clear emphasis on the wife carrying most of the burden when it comes to taking care of everyday activities relating to the home, whereas the husband's input is almost nonexistent. The emergence of this pattern hints at a very pervasive tendency to allocate duties based on gender differentiation and to accentuate the image of housewives as being a role to which women should aspire .

Unfortunately, newer films seem to reflect this tendency as well. As shown in Table 1.2, the role of dealing with household responsibilities is once again ascribed to the mother (67.6%), whereas the father's input (4.2%) is feeble, at best. This suggests that the pattern was not only utilized during the communist period, but it's also reinforced in newer films, thus promoting a very clear

delimitation regarding roles, based on gender.

Another aspect is caring for a child and whether this, too, is reinforced as a gender-differentiated occupation. As seen in Table 2.1, during the 1970-1980 period, films incorporated shots which mostly assigned child care to the mother (67%), whereas father-mother equality in this instance is practically non-existent, with 1% of the shots falling into that subcategory. Another aspect to consider is the fact that when the husband took on most of the child caring responsibilities (13%), the mother was absent in the films, usually deceased. These results hint at the emphasis of a very decisive pattern, wherein the mother is supposed to care for the children in a family, while the father's input in this regard is almost negated. An important element of the analysis needs to be mentioned here. The category only refers to the common, trivial aspects of raising one's children, not for the exceptional situations where a child is abducted, for example, and the father has to deal with the situation. Those types of patterns are incorporated in films not to show an everyday occurrence, but to emphasize the male characters' skills. The child being in danger is simply a motivation for the father's actions and the relationship is used to add depth to their emotional connection as detailed in the fictitious universe they inhabit.

Table 1.1--Category 1: Allocation of household responsibilities (1970-1980)

Subcategory Values %

Predominantly husband/father

1.7%

Predominantly wife/mother

59.6%

Predominantly child 26.3%

Equal husband/father-wife/mother

12.2%

Table 1.2--Category 1: Allocation of household responsibilities (2005-2015)



4.2%


67.6%



5.6%

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In the films released in the 2005-2015 period (Table 2.2), the majority of film shots place the mother at the center of the child caring dynamic (47.2%). The main difference is the fact that the father and mother do share some of the load equally (16.5%), but the shots only appear in a few films released in this period, as opposed to the subcategory relating solely to the mother's input. In this sense, the emergence of such a pattern can clearly ascribe specific roles based on gender regarding the mother-father dynamic. The patterns, if assimilated, have the potential to induce a stereotypical delineation related to the common, but vital aspect of caring for one's children.

Regarding the financial responsibilities, we, once again, can observe a startling tendency (Table 3.1). For the films released during the 1970-1980 period, a woman's financial power is completely nullified. No shots have been ident i f ied in the predominantly wife/mother subcategory or in the equal husband/father-wife/mother subcategory. When the financial support was mainly provided by the children of the family (17.6%), they were, without exception, males.

This pattern can be seen in the 2005-2015 films as well (Table 3.2). Although mothers/wives have indeed begun to earn their own salary or deal with the family's money (15.7%), the husband is still the main provider (68.6% of the shots fall into this category). In terms of equality, very few shots actually portray both parents having jobs and the same financial input (7.8%). This type of pattern, if assimilated, can lead individuals to believe that financial gain is also gendered. A hazardous notion in this time and age, when women are increasingly more present in the workforce and can provide for the family just as well as a man can. The film patterns, however,

Table 2.1--Category 2: Allocation of child care responsibilities (1970-1980)



13%


67%


1%

Predominantly other relatives/other people

19%

Table 2.2--Category 2: Allocation of child care responsibilities (2005-2015)



4.4%


47.2%


16.5%

Predominantly other relatives/other people

31.9%

Table 3.1--Category 3: Allocation of financial responsibilities (1970-1980)



0%


82.4%


0%


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place most of the responsibility on the male characters. This is important to note, as having the capacity to earn money carries a symbolic weight pertaining to power. Therefore, an imbalance can be caused through these types of patterns which can negate a woman's capacity to earn money, therefore implying that only men can and should financially support the family.

Conclusions

As seen in the findings, there is a clear d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n p e r t a i n i n g t o responsibi l i t ies, by gender, in the Romanian cinematography. Whereas films, from both periods, promote the notion that the mother/wife should take care of the household and child caring activities, the

fa ther/husband i s responsib le for financially supporting said family.

G i v e n t h e s o c i a l a n d e c o n o m i c parameters of our society, where women have entered the workforce, these types of patterns have grave implications, insofar that they suggest specific roles for women and men. This problematic representation, if assimilated, can lead to specific attitudes in real life and marital expectations. As stated in the theoretical section, women still have to deal with most of the housework, even if they are employed. It seems Romanian films are in no hurry to combat this point of view, in fact actually reinforcing it. This further establishes a gendered, stereotypical depiction of roles, which can have dangerous implications if these patterns are assimilated to the point where they have the potential to alter a person's view of the real world, thus leading to changes in their behavior, attitude, and overall expectations.

This bias was identified in both cinematographic periods, which hints at a continuous use of patterns, spanning across decades, regardless of changes pertaining to filmic aesthetic and themes, thus solidifying the stance that mass media patterns have a wide reach. More research is needed in order to establish if these patterns are assimilated by the Romanian audience and if, and to what degree, they can alter a person's view regarding real life family dynamics.

*This research is part of a doctoral thesis focusing on family dynamics in Romanian films, a comparative study of patterns.

References Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble – Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, New York, NY: Routledge, Chapman & Hall. Caplan, P.J. (2000). The New Don’t Blame the Mother. Mending the Mother-Daughter Relationship, New York, NY: Routledge. Eagly, A. & Chvala, C. (1986). Sex Differences in Conformity: Status and Gender Role Interpretations. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 10, 203-220. Gerbner, G., Gross, L., Morgan, M., Signorelli, N., & Shanahan, J. (2002) Growing Up with Television: Cultivation Processes. În B. Jennings (Ed.), Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research (pp. 43-69), New Jersey, SUA: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Nabi, R. & Sullivan, J. (2001). Does Television Viewing Relate to Engagement in Protective Action Against Crime? Communication Research, 28( 6), 802-825. Signorelli, N. (2005). Violence in the Media. SUA: ABC-Clio Publishing Shrum, L.J. & Bishak, V.D. (2011). Mainstreaming, Resonance and Impersonal Impact: Testing Moderators of the Cultivation Effect for Estimates of Crime Risk. Human Communication Research, 27( 2), 187-215.

Table 3.2--Category 3: Allocation of financial responsibilities (2005-2015)



15.7%


68.6%


7.8%


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Thompson, J.B., (1998). Media şi modernitatea: o teorie socială a mass-media. Bucureşti: Antet.

Internet website Centrul Naţional al Cinematografiei. (2017). Spectatori film românesc la 31 decembrie 2016. Accessed at http://cnc.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Spectatori-film-romanesc-la-31-decembrie-2016.pdf

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http://cnc.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Spectatori-film-romanesc-la-31-decembrie-2016.pdf



Le père-obstacle, thème-clef des films d’horreur

Associate Professor Michel AROUIMI , Ph.D 2

Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale ‑ ULCO. France

Abstract Modern horror films are certainly very different from each other, in their topics and aesthetic, but

they often seem to express the same haunting power of the “figure” of the “Father”, a contradictory power against which we would have to fight. This revival of the myth of Abraham has mysterious reasons in our time. In some of these films, like 12 Feet Deep (Matt Eskarandi, 2017, US: a horrific thriller) and Clown (Jon Watts, 2014, US), the father or a paternal character is seen as a killer. In Under the Shadow (Babak Naveri, 2016, Iran, GB), the name of “Ebrahimi”, given to an old man living in the 80s with his family in Iraq, is highly suggestive…

Les films d’horreur contemporains sont très différents les uns des autres, dans leurs thèmes et leur esthétique. Mais ils expérimentent souvent le pouvoir de hantise de la « figure du Père », dont le pouvoir est ressenti comme un obstacle, contre lequel il faut lutter. Cette redécouverte du mythe d’Abraham a des raisons mystérieuses à notre époque. Dans certains de ces films, comme 12 Feet Deep (Matt Eskarandi, 2017, US : un thriller horrifique) et Clown (Jon Watts, 2014), le père charnel ou un personnage qui en a les traits, apparaît comme un tueur. Dans Under the Shadow (Babak

Michel Arouimi est maître de conférences habilité en littérature comparée à l’Université du Littoral (France). 2

Ses recherches concernent la remise en cause de l’Harmonie dans les œuvres d’écrivains de diverses époques. La plupart de ses travaux (une centaine d’articles) concernent le phénomène des réminiscences littéraires ou bibliques. Arthur Rimbaud (pour son « alchimie du verbe ») est le fanal de cette recherche, qui s’étend à de nombreux auteurs, de différentes époques et de différentes cultures (Herman Melville, Joseph Conrad, Ernst Jünger, parmi bien d’autres). M. Arouimi a publié une quinzaine d’ouvrages. Les plus récents concernent des écrivains qui se sont efforcés de redonner à la littérature et à l’écriture le sens d’une quête métaphysique. Par exemple Vivre Rimbaud selon Ramuz et Bosco (2010), Jünger et ses dieux (2011), Rimbaud malgré l’autre (2012) et surtout : Ecrire selon la rose (2015) : la survivance d’un mythe hébraïque dans la littérature occidentale. M. Arouimi applique ses méthodes d’analyse aux œuvres de la culture populaire, notamment dans ses ouvrages L’Apocalypse sur scène (2002), Françoise Hardy : pour un public majeur (2012), Mylène Farmer : le monde comme il tangue (2014). Plus récemment, dans La Métaphysique au cinéma (2016), M. Arouimi étudie une quinzaine de films, certains inspirés par une nostalgie des idéaux de la métaphysique la plus reculée, et d’autres, au contraire, par un inquiétant désir de subversion de ces mêmes idéaux.

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Naveri, 2016, Iran, GB), le nom de “Ebrahimi”, qui est celui d’un vieil homme vivant avec sa famille dans l’Irak des années 80, est fort suggestif…

Keywords : Horror films, Abraham, double-bind, Father figure, terrorism

Introduction L’objet de cet article est de rassembler

trois f i lms d’horreur de différente nationalité qui, chacun à sa manière, révèle les sentiments de haine qui visent à notre époque la figure du Père, ressentie comme un obstacle meurtrier. Cette violence du père, réelle ou fictive, engendre une violence filiale, celle d’un parricide. On songe au mythe d’Abraham, mais encore à la contradiction émanant du Père, dans la théorie de René Girard, qui voit dans cette contradiction (« imite moi ne m’imite p a s » ) l ’ a i g u i l l o n d u m i m é t i s m e interhumain, générateur de la violence des doubles, répandue à tous les niveaux de la société. Si le sacré s’est constitué comme une réponse à ce danger (avec la catharsis des rituels sacrificiels épongeant la violence humaine), son absence dans certains de ces films n’est pas rassurante.

Le feu au fond de l’eau Matt Eskandari s’est fait une spécialité

du genre horr i f ique, propice à la r e p r é s e n t a t i o n d e s r e v e n d i c a t i o n s féminines de notre époque, mais encore et surtout des ou du mythe universel impliquant l’idée d’un infanticide, et les fantasmes de parricide qui lui sont associés. Dans le scénario de 12 Feet Deep, coécrit avec Michael Hultquist, la contradiction dont nous parlions s’incarne dans plusieurs représentations du Père (dans le scénario, ou dans les souvenirs des personnages). L’action retrace les affres aquatiques de deux sœurs, liées dans un rapport très complexe, qui s’attardent dans une piscine où l’une d’elles ne retrouve plus sa bague de fiançailles, tombée au fond de l’eau. Le gardien de la piscine, homme d’âge mûr, ne s’aperçoit pas du plongeon des deux sœurs et ferme (pour tout le week-end) le capot en fibre de verre qui protège le bassin. Avant cette méprise, une des deux sœurs a insulté ce gardien, qui semble abuser de son pouvoir. Ce personnage du gardien, secondé par une femme de ménage qui dissimule ses pensées, est lui-même fort ambigu : il maudit secrètement la jeune clientèle lors de la fermeture, et ne s’est pas

inquiété des affaires des deux plongeuses, laissées autour du bassin. L’idée d’un quasi-infanticide se précise dans les propos des deux prisonnières sous le capot de fibre de verre, qui évoquent leur père charnel dans plusieurs séquences (l’action du film réside principalement dans leurs vaines tentatives de briser ce capot).

La première image du film est celle de l’ouverture de cette bâche rigide, une grande surface plane, finement couturée de fins raccords, dont le contraste avec la surface de l’eau est déjà l’expression des deux formes de la dualité, fusionnelle et conflictuelle, qui s’incarnent dans le rapport des deux filles et dans celui qu’elle entretiennent avec des personnages plus âgés : le gardien de la piscine et son acolyte deux âges qui fait un stage de probation pour racheter sa réputation, entachée par une peine de prison. (Elle récolte les objets trouvés et vide les poubelles.)

Or la simplicité du couple de ces deux filles, Bree et Jonna, d’abord associées dans une brève course de vitesse, n’est qu’apparente. Elles diffèrent en effet par leur caractère qui influe sur leur résistance à leur supplice aquatique, physique et psychologique. Jonna, qui se prétend incapable de se débrouiller toute seule, souffre encore de problèmes psychologiques qui ont nécess i té un internement thérapeutique. Bree semble moins forte physiquement (elle tremblote, se plaint de manquer d’énergie, etc.). C’est pourtant Bree qui a tué leur père, ce « monstre » qui abusait d’elles. Mais la marque qu’elle garde de ce drame (une brûlure en maintenant son père dans les flammes allumées accidentellement pas sa cigarette) trouve une sorte de reflet dans les écorchures du bras de Jonna au moment de leur sauvetage. Et surtout leur rapport est miné par une jalousie qui ne se prononce qu’au début de leur mésaventure, quand Bree comprend que Jonna, agacée par les fiançailles de sa sœur, a jeté sa bague dans l’eau.

Ces différences s’effacent dans la réponse encourageante de Bree à la remarque de sa sœur : « Je voudrais être

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comme toi. » De même quand il est question de suicide : « Si tu te tues tu nous tues toutes les deux. » Plus grave, le terme de « monstre », qui qualifie le père défunt dans la bouche de Bree, rebondit dans celle de Jonna, dans un pluriel qui suggère la multitude de ces supposés tortionnaires.

Le rapport des deux filles, si différentes et si semblables (leur maillot de bain noir exprime cette similitude) incarne le « double bind » et ses effets. Le caractère de l’une et de l’autre sœur est lui-même contradictoire. Le suicide, auquel s’apprête Jonna, confirme-t-il ou dément-il son désir de ne pas « rester là à attendre la mort » ? Non moins contradictoire, le courage meurtrier de Bree, peu conforme à sa constitution (elle est diabétique). Ces contradictions, et d’abord la jalousie de Jonna, vite pardonnée, ne sont qu’un effet de la « double contrainte » incarnée par le Père ; moins le père charnel que ses représentants dans l’action filmée.

Lors de sa première intervention orale, ce gardien, tandis qu’il téléphone à sa femme, s’en prend à un garçon écervelé. Et de corriger la méprise, en revenant sur ses préoccupations culinaires : « un gratin de dinde ? Ô mon dieu ! Doux Jésus ! » Ces mots ont une importance majeure, dans ce scénario où les deux sœurs ne recourent pas à la prière quand elles sont exposées à la m o r t . L a d i n d e e s t u n e é v i d e n t e préfiguration du sort des deux filles, condamnées à la noyade par la malveillance involontaire du gardien, et bientôt par celle, plus consciente, de la stagiaire.

Un autre gamin réprimandé par Jonna (dans des termes qui rappellent les invectives du gardien) aggrave très vite son cas par une remarque sur les scarifications étranges du bras de Bree, vestige d’une ancienne brûlure. (Un accident qui a causé la mort de son père.) Cette expression poétique du rapport de l’eau et du feu est moins certaine que le sens sacrificiel de cette blessure, qui apparente la jeune fille à la dinde en gratin, et peut-être au doux « Jésus » qui lui est associé dans la bouche du gardien. (Lors de la sortie des derniers occupants de la piscine, il maudit ces derniers en prononçant les mots « Go to hell »…) Notons d’ailleurs que cette piscine bien chauffée a été l’objet de récents travaux, dont les sœurs se félicitent. On songe au symbolisme sacrificiel qui, comme dans Clown, s’attache à l’idée de la

rénovation, notamment architecturale. Ces énigmes trouvent leur chiffre dans la grille carrée aux traverses en X au fond du bassin, dans laquelle s’est coincée la bague de fiançailles de Bree. Et ce ne sont pas les cheveux de la propriétaire de la bague qui se coincent dans cette grille, dont sa sœur l’aide à se dépêtrer.

Le père charnel de ces filles est évoqué dans deux scènes, qui définissent un double axe de symétrie dans le bâti du film. La plus nerveuse des deux filles se souvient de la mort de ce père ivrogne, qui a péri par le feu de son matelas, incendié par sa propre cigarette. Récurrent dans le dialogue, le mot « monstre », d’abord employé par Bree à propos de son père, revêt le sens que lui accorde René Girard : le monstre, chez Shakespeare ou dans certains mythes, exprimant le paroxysme du mimétisme violent. Et c’est Jonna qui est hantée par les « monstres » qui l’environnent dans la vie courante (« ils sont partout »), autant de doubles de son père. Ce fantasme est en partie fondé, si la plupart des hommes (ou femmes) réactivent la contradiction que symbolisent le trépas inconscient du père ivrogne, mais encore le contraste de ce feu, seulement évoqué, et de l’eau froide où sont plongées les deux filles sous la fibre de verre. Cette matière mérite d’être comparée à de la « glace », ou à une glace qui figure l’impasse mortelle du mimétisme.

Quoi qu’il en soit, le capot fatal est l’image du tourment qui se prononce dans ces aveux de Jonna, tentée par le suicide : « cette chose énorme, noire au fond de nous, énorme, elle me bouffe »… Cette « chose » nomme aussi bien l’effet produit par un modèle défaillant, en l’occurrence paternel, que le ressenti filial uniformément éprouvé par les hommes d’aujourd’hui.

Si les deux filles s’accordent malgré leurs divergences, la différence de leur caractère culmine dans la quasi-mort de Bree, lors du sauvetage effectué par sa sœur. Cette mort apparente, malgré l’angoisse qu’elle provoque en Jonna, répond à une concurrence surmontée, qui expliquerait en partie les penchants suicidaires de Jonna. Il en irait des deux sœurs comme de leur rapport avec la femme de ménage, qu’elles finissent par pardonner en la laissant partir, après que cette démente ait baissé son revolver, lors de son retour inopiné, quand les deux filles ont réussi à sortir du bassin. Le revolver baissé est filmé près de la braguette de la dame en pantalon qui,

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jusque dans ce revirement, se confirme comme un avatar du père. Questionnée sur les raisons de ses actes, elle a cette réponse éloquente : « Il n’y a pas de raison »…

Bree tarde à avouer qu’elle a elle-même tué son père, en l’empêchant d’échapper aux flammes. Simple réponse aux « choses qu’il nous a faites ». Le morceau de fibre de verre qu’elles ont réussi à tailler pour agrandir un trou dans le capot, ce morceau a un sens phallique, rendu apparent quand il blesse à la tempe la femme de ménage abusive. Si cette femme est un substitut féminin du Père, le phallus qui la blesse, actionné par la jeune fille, résume toutes les contradictions du rapport Père-Fils. Ce rapport se renverse, quand cette femme déclare elle-même aux deux prisonnières : « m o i a u s s i j ’ é t a i s c o m m e v o u s [autrefois] ». Avant l’apparition de cette mère infanticide (qui élève pourtant sa propre fille !), Bree observe que Jonna parle de sa psy « comme d’une mère ». La demi-folle, en symétrie de la psy ?

La femme de ménage, une ancienne prisonnière, essaie de marchander la délivrance des deux filles (en exigeant le numéro de la carte bancaire qu’elle trouve dans leur sac, avant de réclamer le don de la bague). Cette femme est d’abord le double du père fouettard campé par le gardien : elle traite les filles d’idiotes et de mauviettes, comme une mère en colère. « Je pourrais vous laisser crever toutes les deux [….] C’est moi qui commande » etc., déclare-t-elle au cours de plusieurs séquences. Les flots du chlore, qu’elle actionne pour aviver le supplice des deux filles, se substitue à l’horrible odeur du père charnel des deux filles, cet ivrogne fumeur. En effet, le manque de « confiance », éprouvé par les filles à l’égard de cette femme qui feint de vouloir les sauver, évoque la défaillance paternelle. La question d’une des deux sœurs, quand la femme s’est éloignée : « Elle reviendra ? », trouve un écho inversé dans l’évocation de leur père, qui « est parti » (il est mort). Cette femme est-elle d’ailleurs si sincère, quand elle affirme avoir oublié le code de l’ouverture du capot du bassin ? La manière hystérique dont elle tape le code sur le clavier, suggère aussi bien son bon vouloir qu’un oubli volontaire. Et bientôt, quand les filles sont enfin sauvées de leur enfer, cette femme qui leur rend la bague obtenue en chantage, est moins une image de la

repentance que celle de la contradiction émanée du père.

Le viol présumé des deux filles par leur père donne son sens le plus malsain à l’injure lancée au gardien au début du film : « kiss my ass ». Cette incitation érotique trahit une complaisance qui ne se limite pas au sens littéral de ces situations. Ces dernières révèlent la perversité de notre époque, encline au châtiment des supposés abus parentaux ; une volonté de châtiment qui exprime un ressenti bien plus général à l’égard des formes sacralisées de l’autorité ou de la hiérarchie.

Les allures féministes du scénario se nuancent par la vision des deux policiers ou ambulanciers qui encadrent la civière de Bree sauvée. Cette ultime figure du Double (pacifique) rachète la violence qui s’y attache dans les détails antérieurs du scénario. Reste que le capot de fibre de verre, vainement soumis à l ’action contondante du pic taillé par la prisonnière, apparaît comme une métaphore de l’hymen rompu par le viol du père. Un viol moins certain que les contradictions, matérialisées dans ce capot, qui dépassent le contenu littéral du scénario.

Être père et clown

Cette remise en cause de l’autorité paternelle prend un relief assez original dans le film américain Clown (2014), premier long métrage de John Watts (2014), qui s’est mieux fait connaître en adaptant récemment à l’écran les aventures de Spiderman. Clown comporte pourtant des scènes dont la violence n’est pas destinée à un jeune public. Dans les dernières scènes, l’éclairage violent où se dissolvent les couleurs évoque celui de récents chefs-d’œuvre horrifiques.

Un père de famille, Kent, a voulu surprendre son jeune fils et sa femme, en se s u b s t i t u a n t a u c l o w n ( q u i s ’ e s t décommandé), loué à une agence pour l’anniversaire de son petit Jack. Cette surprise est secrètement liée à celle que lui fait sa femme, enceinte une seconde fois. Le rapport des deux événements implique le sens phallique du costume de clown, découvert par papa Kent dans le grenier de leur maison récemment achetée. Le d é g u i s e m e n t d o n t l e p a p a , c l o w n occasionnel, ne peut plus se défaire, est en effet une seconde peau qui, jusqu’au nez

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rouge, incarne les maléfices du phallus. A la fin du film, la mort du clown assassin, avec l’étrange liquide qui coule du masque ramolli, est une évidente métaphore de l’orgasme masculin, saturé de sens négatifs.

Avant même que ce père n’entre en scène, la remarque d’une amie de sa femme : « Je déteste les clowns, à l’âge de sept ans ils me faisaient flipper » (je cite la version doublée), exprime un aspect très répandu du féminisme contemporain. De même avec la mise en garde de la mère quand son jeune fils s’approche de la boîte à outils de son père : « C’est dangereux, il y a des clous et des outils ». Ces outils phalliques préfigurent le lourd marteau avec lequel cette femme tuera son mari. Mais on songe d’abord aux tenailles avec lesquelles le papa clown, victime du sortilège qu’est son costume, assassinera un gamin moins sage. Le fait de porter ce costume de clown expose en effet à une métamorphose physique et psychique irréversible, dont la fatalité ne cesse que par la décapitation du clown devenu une sorte de loup-garou affamé.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clown_(film)

Après une tentative érotique avortée avec sa femme, le père pris au piège du costume qui refuse de « glisser », se plaint d’abord de ne pas pouvoir « pisser ». Cet état qui le ridiculise auprès de ses collègues (il est agent immobilier) permet pourtant, dans une contradiction sur laquelle nous reviendrons, une exaspération de la virilité, certes réduite aux crachements incontrôlés qui accompagnent ses borborygmes. La première victime de ces crachements est une collègue, une grosse femme noire, autrement dit le miroir de son altération faciale, si la bouche mal démaquillée du clown est pour ainsi dire réfléchie par celle de cette femme, plus surprise que dégoûtée. La vague teinture blonde de cette Noire aux cheveux courts et lissés renforce cet effet de miroir.

P o u r v a i n c r e c e t é t a t , i l f a u t « supprimer » le porteur du costume en lui tranchant la tête, explique l’ancien possesseur du costume, un certain Karlsson, ancien propriétaire de la maison. Ce dernier a lui-même conservé, sans oser s’en débarrasser, le costume endossé jadis par son propre frère devenu un ogre. La décapitation, que le vieux Karlsson tente vainement de commettre sur Kent, sera

exécutée par la femme de ce dernier. Ce geste cristallise les fantasmes de castration qui, favorisés de diverses façons par les médias, ont envahi aujourd’hui l’imaginaire féminin. Cette femme, Meg, qui exerce le métier de dentiste, tranchera d’abord vainement la gorge de son mari, avant de revenir à la tâche, dans les scènes finales. Terribles séquences, où l ’altération physique de Kent et de son costume, devenu la seconde « peau » à laquelle ce costume est identifié dans une scène antérieure, accompagne le déchaînement de ses instincts meurtriers, dirigés contre son propre fils.

Lorsque le petit Jack s’abrite dans une sorte de réduit, le bris de la paroi supérieure par le bras du père ajoute le sens d’un acte pédophile à cette intention meurtrière. Très curieusement, un plan réservé à la main de la mère est enchaîné à celui qui montre la main crochue du père. Ce rapport de doubles se resserre dans une courte scène où les ongles du monstre entaillent le ventre de la mère enceinte, futur bourreau de son mari . P lus

généralement, le Double se poétise dans la répétition même des actions et des répliques les plus violentes.

La mort de Kent, qui paraît survivre un bref instant au coup porté par le lourd maillet de sa femme, s’apparente d’ailleurs à celle du chien de la famille, contaminé pour avoir gobé le nez du clown, arraché plus tôt par Meg au visage de son mari. (Une fois décapité, ce chien lui aussi survit quelques secondes.) Cette réduction de l’homme au chien (et à ses instincts

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clown_(film)

lubriques ?) est moins remarquable que la poursuite des enfants dans le boyau du jeu d’un parc d’attraction où Meg et l’ancien propriétaire de sa maison retrouvent le papa clown. Les enfants débusqués par le monstre au fond de ce boyau (l’un d’eux sera tué) suggèrent l’idée d’un ventre féminin, lors d’un avortement. Ces sens contradictoires conjuguent l’horreur du pénis et celle qui, dans le féminisme contemporain, concerne le prétendu asservissement de l’utérus.

L ’ i n t é r ê t d e c e t t e m é t a p h o r e hypothétique est dans son lien peu évident avec un autre aspect de la figure du Père : la contradiction qui, selon René Girard émane du Père, et pour ainsi dire contamine le groupe humain. La remise en cause, par l’intelligentsia contemporaine, du pouvoir incarné par le phallus se trompe d’objet : les femmes comme les hommes d’aujourd’hui ressentent en fait le poids de cette contradiction, mais sont incapables de s’en affranchir, puisqu’ils l’aggravent en la réduisant à une symbolique, phallique si l’on veut, à laquelle elle ne se limite certainement pas.

Le film n’atteint pas ce niveau de conscience, mais certains détails du dialogue suggèrent l’ampleur de cette révélation. Le costume fatal est « un habit t r a d i t i o n n e l t r è s a n c i e n d e s p a y s scandinaves », porté autrefois par une sorte d’ogre qui calmait sa faim par cinq enfants réclamés chaque hiver. Le surnom que se d o n n e l u i - m ê m e l e p a p a c l o w n , « Nigo » (avec le sens de son homophone français) suggère d’ailleurs le mot nigger, mérité par le maquillage du clown. Les tensions raciales sont pourtant dépassées dans la séquence du parc d’attraction où un jeune métis semble être, un court moment, la victime désignée de maman Meg elle-même, désireuse de calmer le délire de son mari, qu’elle tarde à dissocier de sa monstruosité. Son partage mental fait d’elle une autre incarnation de la fameuse contradiction, puisqu’elle prétend vouloir sauver son mari en confirmant ses appétits de monstre.

Dans les premières séquences, Kent questionné par son fils feint de nier son identité paternelle, avant de déclarer « je ne suis pas clown » au médecin qui l’ausculte. Si Jack reconnaît son père sous son costume, bien plus tard la mise à mort de son père ne l’émeut guère : « C’est pas papa. » L’altération de la personnalité de

Kent est d’ailleurs ainsi commentée par le père de sa femme : « un dérèglement chimique… Il se comporte comme un parfait papa et puis … d’un coup… » On ne saurait mieux exprimer le paradoxe du « double bind », exprimé ici par la bouche du grand-père de Jack, si jaloux de son beau-fils.

Ce phénomène prend une forme plus sophistiquée dans les crimes de l’ancien clown, nourri par cinq enfants « sortis de l’hôpital » où ils étaient « sur le point de mourir ». Cette édulcoration de son crime a sans doute des raisons éthiques, liées aux impératifs commerciaux d’un film destiné à un public non averti. Mais ce quasi-déni du projet meurtrier qui pourtant anime le monstre permet de voir dans ce dernier une i n c a r n a t i o n p a r m i d ’ a u t r e s d e l a contradiction fondatrice. L’égarement psychologique provoqué par le « double bind » est aussi bien figuré par Kent, avec ses instincts réfrénés, que par sa femme, embarquant une fillette dans sa voiture dans le projet de la sacrifier à Kent. Ce dernier, déclare-elle plus tôt à son propre père en dépit des faits réels, « n’a rien fait ».— Si elle-même se refuse à voir un monstre dans son mari, elle n’en est pas moins soucieuse de calmer l’appétit du monstre. Il est vrai qu’elle est alors dans un état de s e m i - h y p n o s e , o ù l a p l o n g e n t l e s sollicitations meurtrières de Kent : une caricature de la soumission du disciple à son modèle !

Le Double maléfique, autrement dit les rapports concurrentiels engendrés par l’injonction contradictoire émanée du Père, s’incarne dans le couple formé par l’ancien clown et son frère, qui lui a survécu et rapporte leur histoire. Autre couple, moins pacifique, celui que forment malgré eux le papa clown et le père de sa femme, qui se substitue au premier pendant la déchéance de son mari. Tout cela mérite moins d’être souligné que les deux scies circulaires électriques, disposées par Kent pour se décapiter lui-même. Ce suicide salvateur, et d’autant mieux qu’il n’est pas effectué, exprime tout de l’horreur du Double et de la contradiction qui l’engendre, mimée par la chute du corps en arrière. C’est d’ailleurs un jeune enfant qui sera la victime de ces roues : un crime qui justement n’en est pas un, même si le sang de l’enfant mort réveille en Kent un appétit qui n’épargnera que quelques ossements.

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Non moins allusive, la perruque aux multiples couleurs que Kent ne peut plus ôter : ni perruque ni vrais cheveux, cette coiffure laisse des traces colorées sur le mur devant lequel Kent a tenté de se tirer une balle dans la bouche. La gamme des couleurs, d’ailleurs amorties, se lit comme une interprétation chromatique des effets uniformisateurs de la contradiction, si bien symbolisée par cette coiffure ou ce postiche qui est encore une image des faux-semblants. Encore plus parlant, le maquillage nude que s’applique Kent dans la première phase de sa transformation, pour justement masquer celui, bariolé, qu’il ne parvient pas à ôter de son visage.

Si la fameuse contradiction engendre le mauvais mimétisme, le fait de n’être jamais vraiment soi-même ni vraiment autrui, explique le penchant esthétique si répandu dans notre monde pour le faux-semblant. Ce dernier se voit représenté par les mannequins qui encombrent l’antre du frère de l’ancien clown. Plus subtile, la séquence où Meg découvre le dispositif utilisé par le frère du clown pour filmer ce dernier pendant ses crises, tandis que se mêlent la réalité filmée et la réalité vécue par la spectatrice horrifiée.

Cette séquence, dans laquelle s’esquisse une critique du rapport (cathartique?) de l’art cinématographique et du mimétisme, trouve son pendant dans celle qui est centrée sur le garnement adonné à un jeu vidéo auquel il fait participer ses amis restés chez eux. Il s’agit d’un garçon fort grossier, qui s’est moqué du fils de Kent en imitant moqueusement les paroles rassurantes de sa mère. Le papa clown vengera son fils à qui il déclare d’abord : « Comme toi » (on m’a embêté à l’école). C’est donc lui-même qu’il venge en assassinant l’enfant mal élevé pour le dévorer.

Les effets de miroir soulignés plus haut participent à une esthétique adaptée à l’abolition des différences individuelles, autrement dit la crise générée par le mimétisme violent. Ce phénomène transparaît dans d’autres détails du scénario. Les membres de cette famille sont en effet liés dans un rapport de concurrence inexprimé, sinon par ces détails. On n’est pas surpris du comportement du père nourricier, substitut ou remplaçant de sa femme quand il doit veiller sur le départ de son fils à l’école. Cette situation, moderne si l’on veut, exprime un égalitarisme qui,

d’après ce scénario, est une promesse de violences. La caméra qui ne montre pas le dévorement des enfants par le clown, est encore plus terrible quand elle fixe le m e u r t r e d u C l o w n p a r M e g . L e s revendications féministes sont en effet, dans notre monde, le masque d’un projet politique informulé, dont les femmes ne sont que les agents. Mais ce projet a comme autres moyens bien des contraintes, sociales, qui amenuisent tout ce qui, dans l’homme, rappelle en lui le pouvoir du Père.

La différence si marquée du métier de Kent, agent immobilier, avec celui de sa dentiste de femme est d’ailleurs gommée par la caméra qui, avec une exception pour K e n t , e s q u i v e l e u r s o c c u p a t i o n s professionnelles. Si la femme est dentiste, le vieux Karlsson souffre d ’une dent (endommagée par sa lutte contre Kent) qu’il s’arrache lui-même dans une séquence tardive. Ces deux personnages que tout oppose ne font donc qu’un. Ce brouillement des différences n’apparaît pas comme le moyen d’une reconnaissance participative des singularités d’autrui ; il aboutit en effet à une chosification négative des êtres que nous sommes. Avant d’essayer vainement d’ « arracher » sa perruque et son nez, avec l’aide de sa femme équipée de ses outils dentaires, Kent sur son lieu de travail enjoint ses ouvriers à « arracher la moquette » d’une maison à vendre. Astucieuse manière de confondre les p r a t i q u e s d ’ u n d e n t i s t e e t l e s préoccupations d’un agent immobilier ! Leur rapport existe, mais sur le plan symbolique, si la réfection d’une maison et c e l l e d ’ u n e b o u c h e d é m e u b l é e s e superposent, comme deux métaphores des effets rénovateurs de tout sacrifice.

L’altération comportementale du chien et sa décapitation salvatrice par Mr Karlsson, sont moins subtiles que son nom, « Shadow », qui résume à lui seul cette détérioration des limites individuelles. La séquence la plus étrange du film est d’ailleurs celle où Meg, égarée dans le parc d’attraction, erre dans un espace indéfini où vont et viennent lentement des enfants, telles les ombres d’un enfer antique, dans un jeu qui n’est que supposable.

La tentative de suicide de Kent, anticipée par le cutter et le couteau électrique dont il fait usage pour essayer d’ôter son costume, serait une allégorie des prétentions libératrices, justifiées comme le moyen de refuser les rôles assignés à tout être par la

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« tradition », pas seulement scandinave. Notre crime est de jeter le bébé avec l’eau du bain, en ne distinguant pas le bien fondé de la tradition qui répartit ces rôles, notamment ceux de l’homme et de la femme, ressentis à notre époque comme une forme de la dualité néfaste qui effectivement structure nos esprits, où elle dresse une sorte de grille, qui altère notre vision des principes immuables de cette tradition. Le nom du chien des Kent, « Shadow » pourrait nommer cette contradiction C’est aussi la leçon d’un autre film, iranien celui-là, Under the Shadow (2016), qui transpose cette symbolique dans l’univers du terrorisme. Un « djinn » tombé du ciel s’y révèle aussi malfaisant que le clown du film éponyme.

Horreur et terrorisme Ce film de Babak Naveri, tourné en

langue persane, avec une production anglaise, a toutes les apparences d’un film d’horreur. Le scénario qui nous transporte dans l’Iran des années 80, exposé à la violence de l’Irak, semble plutôt voué à soutenir les mouvements migratoires de notre époque. Or, les personnages du film, dans leur rapport et dans leur psychologie, incarnent une contradiction violente qui, dans un paradoxe apparent, reproduit celle qui les menace dans le scénario. Dans l’immeuble habité par l’héroïne, les partisans d’une politique intérieure très répressive voisinent avec ceux qui lui résistent — dans une certaine mesure.

La différence de la victime et du persécuteur oscille au gré des effets de miroirs multipliés dans le scénario ; tandis que le drame des populations oppressées par un pouvoir totalitaire se resserre entre les membres d’une même maisonnée, une même famille, et jusqu’entre un mari et sa femme, ou cette femme et sa fille unique, qui tiennent successivement ces rôles de victime et de persécuteur. Cette leçon qui ne se veut pas telle vaut pour les formes intestines du terrorisme actuel.

Curieusement, à l’exception de la légende des Djinns, objet d’un ouvrage parcouru par Shideh, l’héroïne, le passé proche ou lointain de l’Iran (et donc celui de l’islam) n’est aucunement évoqué, à l’avantage de la culture occidentale et de la tradition judéo-chrétienne — du moins ses grandes figures, qui revivent dans le Coran. Cette ellipse, même si elle n’est pas entière, manifeste pour ainsi dire le refoulé de la

tradition musulmane, qui doit tant à son aînée, mais sans pleinement le reconnaître (comment le pourrait-elle ?).

Le génie musulman, à l’époque d’un multiculturalisme qui met l’essence de ce génie à l’épreuve, est confronté à l’évidence de ses emprunts à la tradition judéo-chrétienne. De cette confrontation culturelle résulte pour le monde musulman une schizophrénie sans thérapie, qui génère ou du moins favorise les formes externes du terrorisme. — Et ses formes internes, puisque de notre tradition, l’islam a surtout retenu la figure d’Abraham, justement déclinée dans tous ses aspects dans ce film. Or, le geste d’Abraham, avec les fantasmes d’infanticide qui s’y attachent, mais amputé du sens spirituel qu’il revêt dans la Bible, trouve des échos sans nombre dans le déchaînement d’un nouveau Pouvoir musulman contre les enfants mêmes de cette culture.

Le nom d’Abraham (Ibrahim dans le Coran) se retrouve dans celui du ménage « Ebrahimi », dont le neveu a joué un rôle ambigu dans l’obsession de sa petite voisine Dorsa, fille de Shideh, pour les Djinns. Avant de s’en prendre au garçon, Mme Ebrahimi, sa tante, accusera Dorsa de favoriser la venue des Djinns, ne serait-ce qu’en parlant d ’eux. Ce c l imat de persécution n’épargne pas Shideh, rejetée au début du film par le directeur d’une école de médecine où elle n’est plus en grâce. Son mari fait de même, lors de leurs différends. Ces contraintes oppressives dont pâtissent ces personnages se conjuguent dans le missile qui a défoncé la terrasse en toiture de la maison. Une voisine en accuse les Djinns ; supérieure incarnation, même si elle est invisible, du père punisseur. La menace, proférée par maman Shideh de jeter la poupée de Dorsa à la poubelle, fait de cette poupée « Kimia », double vital de Dorsa, une figuration d’Isaac. Dorsa accusera justement sa mère d’avoir « tué » cette poupée, maintes fois perdue. Cette poupée égarée puis retrouvée s’apparente au livre de médecine, seul souvenir des études de Shideh, qui a été lui aussi égaré et retrouvé. La poupée et le l ivre se complètent, comme deux expressions du « pharmakos », la victime émissaire des rituels sacrificiels.

Le mythe d’Abraham s’anamorphose, dans une réminiscence du conte de Blanche Neige, quand Shideh (dans le rôle de la cruelle marâtre ?) offre à sa fille une

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pomme rouge, choisie parmi toutes celles qu’elle a lavées à grande eau. Sa fille est justement plongée dans un livre de contes, où on aperçoit fugitivement le face à face d’une vague sorcière et d’une silhouette blanche. Ce lavage des pommes s’inscrit d’ailleurs parmi les activités ménagères très énergiques de maman Shideh, aux effets parfois aussi violents que celui du missile ! Autant de purgations d’une violence parentale, féminisée, et qui tourne à vide. Ce constat d’échec rejaillit sur le mythe d’Abraham, ou plutôt sur son emprise dans l’imaginaire musulman.

Je ne dirai rien ici des très nombreuses références à Abraham dans le Coran, qui expliquent la résurgence de ce mythe dans ce film. Leur nombre même, mais encore les luttes obsessives d’Abraham contre les idolâtres, détériorent dans le Coran l’aura mystique de cette figure majeure. Dans Under the Shadow, les références à l’iconographie chrétienne, que je montrerai bientôt, sont elles aussi un souvenir coranique. On pourrait voir dans ce film une critique de cette manipulation littéraire qui ne se veut pas telle, mais ces références à notre culture perdent leur pouvoir de fascination, éclipsées par celui du pouvoir violent qui se joue d’elles et qui, héroïsé, a le dernier mot dans cette démonstration qui culmine dans un croisement de sens contraires…

Le site d’Elam, destination du mari de Shideh, évoque d’ailleurs le roi d’Elam, dont Loth lui-même, délivré par son frère Abraham, est prisonnier. La légende de Loth est maintes fois associée à l’évocation d’Abraham dans le Coran ; d’où peut-être la vision finale du film, où Shideh s’éloigne en voiture de la maison détruite : sa fille va sans doute regretter cette nouvelle Sodome, qui abrite la tête de sa poupée décapitée...

La cyclothymie des personnages, les c o n t r a d i c t i o n s q u ’ i l s s ’ i n f l i g e n t , apparaissent comme autant d’échos ou d’effets du « double bind », qui n’est maîtrisé que dans l’esthétique du film, avec ses couleurs très douces : une palette de pastels ou plutôt de couleurs écrasées, douteuses. Dans un échange de paroles entre Sihdeh et son mari, la vie et la mort de sa mère (défunte) ne semblent plus distinctes. On songe à la minceur de la limite qui, dans la vision des musulmans, sépare la vie et la mort. Cette vision du monde, qui comporte des dangers, est-elle en partie liée aux altérations que le Coran

fait subir à l’Abraham biblique, réduit dans le Coran à un rôle de pourfendeur des « idolâtres » (en estompant son alliance avec Dieu et son rôle fondateur)?

On peut interpréter dans ce sens l’absence de toute effusion sentimentale de Shideh quand elle parle au téléphone à son mari parti dans une région périlleuse ; en contraste avec l’aménité dont elle fait preuve à l’égard de ses voisines. Avant de mourir pendant le bombardement, un vieux voisin a cru voir … quelque chose de terrible : le Djinn sans doute, qui sommeille au fond de son être ?

Egarée par la peur, Shideh s’aventure parmi les rues, sans voile sur la tête, sa fille dans les bras. Une gardienne de l’ordre, plus sévère que le magistrat qu’elle sert, la menace de coups de fouets, tout en l’informant qu’elle sera épargnée : encore une contradiction, associée d’une certaine manière à l’imago paternelle. Plus subtil, le vide sur lequel s’ouvre vers l’extérieur la porte de l’appartement de Shideh, inquiétée par des bruits. Cette présence-absence, qui envahit les dernières séquences, exprime abstraitement la contradiction en question, qui prend une forme plastique dans le tchador bicolore où se masque le Djinn, sous les apparences d’une « dame » (ainsi nommée par Dorsa), qui n’a d’humain que ce nom. Cette « dame », d’abord crainte, est bientôt évoquée par la capricieuse fillette comme une rivale avantagée de sa maman.

La fameuse contradiction, située à l’aube de la culture humaine par René Girard, se verrait exorcisée (et non pas reprise en écho) dans le sacrifice interrompu de l’Abraham biblique. Dans maintes sourates, les entorses à la chronologie, ajoutées au caractère apparemment décousu de la succession et du contenu des sourates, de même que les retournements très brusques dans les situations décrites, seraient moins une défaillance littéraire que le moyen de perpétuer cette contradiction, prétendue paternelle. Les effets de cette contradiction, dopés par le scandale apparent de ce sacrifice qui hante l’imaginaire musulman, prennent toute leur dimension dans la confrontation culturelle du Moyen-Orient et de l ’Occident, ce modèle obstacle, désormais menacé par le terrorisme extérieur.

Le pouvoir destructeur du Djinn, quand il prend la forme d’un missile, se nuance par l’uniformisation du groupe humain. En même temps ce pouvoir est celui d’une

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expansion à laquelle participent autant ses agents que ses victimes. Quoi qu’il en soit, ce projet cinématographique est moins celui d’une remise en cause méditée du Coran, dont la parole se perpétue dans ce film, que celui d’une plaidoirie pour la cause des exilés.

Certes, Shideh rejette son voile quand elle est seule, mais le sens salvateur de ce geste est ruiné par la victoire finale du tchador bicolore qui couvre le Djinn invisible ; ce signe de soumission, qui se renie avec la malice d’un tapis volant, s’affirme comme une puissance invincible, pour le personnage et pour le spectateur. La seule vision du monstre est celle de sa bouche géante et dévoreuse, quand Shideh le découvre sous le lit de sa propre fille. Si on peut ainsi assimiler le Djinn et Dorsa, la bouche ouverte de Shideh hurlant de peur apparait comme le reflet de celle du Djinn. « Réelle ou non », la « dame » incarne bien la division de l’être, tout aussi marquée chez le mari qui, au téléphone, insulte sa femme avec une violence qui ne peut être que celle du Djinn. Cette violence exprime celle du terrorisme intérieur qui, dans maintes régions du monde musulman, a succédé aujourd’hui au conflit de l’Iran et de l’Irak. L’Iran d’hier et celui d’aujourd’hui étant moins impliqués dans cette énigme cinématographique que les populations en exode, jetées aujourd’hui sur les routes par la Syrie.

Si la violence est mimétique, c’est aussi vrai du terrorisme islamique actuel ; ses aspects suicidaires semblent liés au désir contrarié d’égaler l’Occident. On peut d ’a i l leurs voir dans les prouesses architecturales d’un Dubaï, une surenchère orientale de ce que l’Occident a de plus insultant. Cette imitation ne peut être que de surface, et manquera toujours son but. Même dans ses formes inconscientes, elle génère chez ceux qui l’éprouvent un dégoût de soi-même, dont Jean Genet a tout dit dans Les Bonnes.

Le thème de l’imitation revêt un éclat énigmatique dans le scénario. Le jeu auquel se livrent Dorsa et sa maman, qui miment un tea time mondain, n’est qu’un moment de répit dans la concurrence de leurs volontés. Cette paix très éphémère où l’une et l’autre femme s’arrachent à leur ethnie, dans ce goûter factice qui contraste avec le thé à l’orientale servi par une voisine, tourne court avec la violence qui se déclare dans la colère subite de Shideh, quand sa

fille l’empêche d’entendre les informations guerrières sur une radio portative. Plus tard, la même violence est campée par la fillette qui, dans une sorte de cauchemar où Shideh croit être violée par un substitut de son mari, réprimande sa mère. Cette inversion des rôles, qui s’ajoute à celui de la réalité et du rêve, est peut-être plus typique de l’esthétique musulmane que l’aspect des tissus du décor intérieur, où s’affadit l’art de l’ancien Iran.

Dans le générique du film, des images récentes des horreurs de la guerre au Moyen-Orient (sans ancrage géographique précis) alternent avec une brève séquence montrant des bombes tombant du ciel. Une imitation (ou un insert ?) d’une courte prise de vue, surexploitée au cinéma depuis plus d’un demi-siècle, montrant des bombes tombant à pic à la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, sans doute en Allemagne.

Le film est d’ailleurs rythmé par les accès d’hystérie successifs (est-ce une imitation différée ?) des trois membres de la famille. La recherche de la poupée, ou celle de l’identité menacée de la doctoresse sans diplôme, sont le prétexte de ces accès. Ces querelles (de même dans le voisinage) qui rythment le film en définissent la structure. Celle-ci paraît trouver son chiffre dans maintes séquences (et sur l’affiche du film) par le X que forment les bandes adhésives collées sur les carreaux des fenêtres, menacés par les éventuelles explosions. (Ce X partage le symbolisme de la grille de métal qui, dans 12 Feet Deep, retient la bague de la jeune nageuse). Shideh utilise ces bandes pour colmater les fissures du plafond qui s’entrouvrent soudainement, au gré des apparitions-disparitions du Djinn. (On songe encore au trou dans le capot de la piscine de 12 Feet Deep…) Ces croix sont autant d’inversions sataniques de la Sainte Croix puisqu’en effet, le scénario comporte maintes séquences sacrificielles qui évoquent le sacrifice de soi-même, dont le Christ est le modèle absolu. Si la confusion de ces souvenirs bibliques est inspirée par leur entrecroisement dans le Coran, le vidage de leur sens mystique serait autorisé par la redistribution même, dont ils sont l’objet dans le témoignage de Mahomet.

L’apparence de Shideh et de sa fille, accompagnées d’une voisine après la chute du missile, est celle d’une Vierge à l’Enfant. Cette mère se laisse justement fasciner, en visite chez une voisine, par un angelot raphaélesque, qui décore le mur. Dorsa elle-

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même est filmée comme une sainte en transe quand, dans un cauchemar de sa mère, un plan la montre assise, nimbée dans un faisceau de lumière diagonal, émané d’une puissance céleste… mais malveillante.

Accusée d’avoir tué la poupée par sa fille, Shideh s’exclame : « Je n’ai rien fait »… La parole de la victime innocente paraît bien servir des fins politiques, extérieures au scénario. Ces personnages qui se disculpent apparaissent comme les porte-parole des victimes (ou des actants) du terrorisme intérieur de notre époque. Non que les migrants soient leurs propres persécuteurs, mais leur drame est celui d’un binôme sacrificiel, résultant de la digestion politicienne de mythes dérobés à l’Ancien Testament.

Un énoncé de Shideh accusée par sa fille multiplie l’être du Djinn: « ils l’ont prise [la poupée], ils veulent que tu croies que c’est moi ». Voilà suggérée l’identification de tous les acteurs de ce drame (et même ceux qui sont extérieurs à son action) au Djinn. Autrement dit le mal intérieur, qui hante le peuple musulman avec la force inexplicable (sinon par le « stress ») de la fièvre qui s’est e m p a r é e d e D o r s a , é l é m e n t a i r e manifestation de sa possession par le Djinn.

Le souvenir de la Passion se précise dans la bouche de Dorsa: « Tu m’as encore abandonnée », parmi d’autres énoncés qui, en 2016, évoquent le besoin d’aide des musulmans en déroute : « tu ne pouvais pas t’occuper de moi et elle [la dame] elle le pouvait ». Ces propos s’entendent comme un écho de la victimisation politique de l’Occident, accusé de ne pas aider assez les victimes de l’islamisme. C’est plus explicite dans le film algérien de M.-R.Benhadj Parfums d’Alger (2010) ou dans le film f r a n ç a i s d e X a v i e r D u r r i n g e r , N e m’abandonne pas (2016), analysé lui aussi dans mon ouvrage La Métaphysique au cinéma. Dorsa reproche à sa mère de ne pas s’occuper d’elle, tandis que la « dame » le peut. D’après mes remarques précédentes, la violence du Djinn, autrement dit celle du missile, tendrait à se confondre avec le comportement de l ’Occident. Cette absurdité trouve sa raison dans le rôle de modèle (obstacle) joué par ce dernier. Mais comment venir en aide à un peuple qui ne souffre que de lui-même, comme le suggère cette « dame », double de la mère Shideh, et véritable condensé de l’entourage familial ?

Le « Pardonne-moi » lancé par la mère à sa fille peut encore s’entendre comme l’expression d’un repentir (imaginaire) d’Abraham. Cet énoncé aurait d’ailleurs pu être placé dans la bouche de Dorsa; mais l’islam n’a pas pris le chemin d’honorer vraiment ses mères bibliques, considérées de trop haut, que sont l’Ancien et le Nouveau Testament.

Les dernières images du film montrent la voiture où les deux femmes s’éloignent de la demeure hantée. Mais pour aller où ? Chez les parents du mari, devenu hostile à cette visite ? Comme leur voisine, elles n’ont « aucune raison de rester ici ». Paris, convoitée par une voisine soucieuse de valider des visas, est-elle préférée à Londres en raison du moindre éloignement, malgré la connaissance de l’anglais, très répandue parmi les Iraniens ? Est-ce un choix politique des producteurs anglais ? Mais on n’échappe pas à soi-même. Dorsa ne s’est pas encore aperçue que sa poupée est décapitée, depuis le sauvetage de sa mère, qu’elle a empêchée de s’enliser dans les escaliers, liquéfiés dans une sorte de coulée noire. Une matière qui évoque d’ailleurs le goudron dont la route finale est faite. La tête de Kimia la poupée, quand s’éloigne la voiture, est toujours sur une marche de l’escalier redevenu du béton. De la tête au corps de Kimia, qui gît sur la banquette arrière, la distance est illusoire. L’angoisse imaginable de Dorsa, quand elle se rendra compte de cette décapitation, envahit l’espace de l’Iran tout entier. Si loin qu’aille la voiture, ce démembrement de la poupée, aggravé par la distance, reste la promesse d’une expansion des dissensions, exportées à Paris ou ailleurs.

On peut apprécier dans ce film l’absence d’allusions au souvenir de la colonisation occidentale. Le vécu politique de l’Iran explique cela, malgré la colonisation culturelle qui transparaît dans les décors du film. La colonisation est plutôt celle qui s’annonce dans l’embardée de ses voisins sur Paris, dont le sillage semble appeler les roues de la voiture rose de Shideh: un encouragement à l’implantation culturelle extrêmement diversif iée du monde musulman en Europe, et particulièrement en France.

Je conclurai cette analyse des trois films en soulignant la permanence d’un mythe f o n d a t e u r ( p a r m i d ’ a u t r e s ) d a n s l’imaginaire de ces cinéastes, dont les œuvres se ressemblent si peu en apparence.

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Leur mérite est de redonner vie à ce mythe, mais l’actualité toujours vivace de ce dernier explique cette redécouverte, destinée à un public moderne. Et surtout n’oublions pas qu’il s’agit de films d’horreur, un genre injustement dédaigné.

Il en irait de ces films comme de la littérature fantastique selon Tzvetan Todorov: le terrain d’un questionnement des possibilités et de la vocation de l’art, pas seulement littéraire ?

Référencés

Girard, René (1982). Le bouc émissaire. Paris: Grasset. Tzvetan Todorov (1970). Introduction à la littérature fantastique. Paris: Éditions du

Seuil.

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The Chronicles of Narnia – the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (movie release: 2005), a

reinterpretation of the ancient pagan myths and symbols, along with the popular archetypes in a Christian mindset -

Associate professor Maria-Luiza DUMITRU OANCEA , Ph.D 3

University of Bucharest

Abstract

Maria-Luiza Dumitru Oancea is associate professor, Ph.D., at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and 3

Literatures of the University of Bucharest, Department of Classical and Neo-Greek Philology. She is specialized in ancient Greek, in ancient Greek and Roman civilization and in Greek literature (archaic and alexandrine periods). She has written books, translations and numerous papers in the field such as: Apollonius Rhodius, Editura Universității din București, București, 2012; Mentalități și instituții mediteraneene și indo-europene în scrierile eline, Editura Universității din București, București, 2013; traducere din limba greacă veche, note și comentarii la Cîntarea Cîntărilor, coloana V, în Monumenta Linguae Daco-romanorum. Biblia 1688. Pars XII: Proverbia, Ecclesiastes, Canticum Canticorum, coord. Eugen Munteanu; coord. volumului Mădălina Ungureanu; 2015; Mitologie greco-romană - curs-atelier, București, Editura Universității din București, 2010; „Începuturile proxeniei clasice”, Analele Universității Ovidius din Constanța. Seria Filologie, XXVII (2), p. 327-335, In honorem Petre Gheorghe Bârlea, coord. Mioara Codleanu și Florentina Nicolae, Editura Universității Ovidius, 2016; „La transgressioni delle leggi dell’ospitalità nel’Odissea omerica (Transgressing the Laws of Hispitality in Homer’s Odyssey / Încălcarea legilor ospitalității în Odiseea homerică)”, în Studia Universitatis, Babeș-Bolyai, Series Philologia, vol. 60, No. 1, March, 2015, pp. 167-177; „Mentalities of the Ancient Jews and the Metaphorical Register of the Song of Songs”, în International Journal of Cross-Cultural Studies and Environmental Communication, vol. 2, Issue /2013, pp. 139-146; „The Strategies of wisdom in Homer’s the Odyssey or "How does one become wise?"”, The 1st Edition of the International Conference „Communication, Culture, Creation: New Cultural Paradigms“, University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Philosophy, 3-5 October 2014, Arad, Editors: Virginia Popović, Ivana Janjić, Speranța Milancovici, Eugen Gagea, 2015; „Alegorii ale vechilor cosmogonii la Homer, Hesiod, Apollodor și Ovidius”, în Filologie Rusă XXX, nr. 1/2014, Editura Universității din București, pp. 109-124;„Principes d’hospitalité dans la literature greco-romaine, în Annuaire Roumain d’anthropologie, vol. 49/2012, pp. 55-75; „Mystification and fear: two instances of the pseudo-heroic mode in Apollonius’ Argonautika”, în JCCSC (International Journal of Cross-Cultural Studies and Environmental Communication), vol. I (Transdiscipliary Studies: Art, Myth, Technology), Issue 2/2012, pp. 87-93 etc.

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The paper herein aims to interpret the novel definition of the concept of wizardry, extensively used nowadays in mass-media and filmography and, at the same time, to unravel the symbols underlying the making of the movie The Chronicles of Narnia. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Disney and Walden Media, 2005). What came into notice was a wide array of symbols and symbolical images, such as the hide-and-seek game, the wardrobe, the glaciation ruling over the Narnia world along with the reign of the White Witch Jadis and the accuser, Witch Jadis, the key appearances of Professor Kirke, the connotation of the presents received by the Pevensie siblings (Lucy, Susan and Peter), the etymology of certain names of the characters, the image of the three siblings in pursuit of Lion Aslan.

Key words: wizardry, game, winter, symbol, rebirth

The aim of the research

Throughout the pages of this article, my resolution is to validate the presence of certain characters, images, gestures, terms or elements to be found in the movie The Chronicles of Narnia. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, made by Disney and Walden Media in 2005 (after a C.S. Lewis’ novel) are actually the product of a stellium of conjoined symbols or symbolical images that succeed together to respond to an extensive horizon of expectations, so that the prevailing Christ-related matrix be given numberless interpretations in any symbolic key available or known (Christian or pagan, either mythological, folkloric or religious) so as humanity be able to acknowledge its familiar archetypal images, without feeling ostracized due to cultural criteria.

Working method

The method in use is the interpretation in an anthropological key, relying on an imagology and etymology study that will facilitate the access to the decoding of the symbols and symbolical images that are pertinent to the movie’s oikonomia.

Demonstration

1. The hide-and-seek game and the “ forbidden gate”. The first discovery

Unlike the book, where Lucy comes across the secluded room accommodating a wardrobe covered in a white veil, throning in the middle, while scouting around the house of the Professor Digory Kirke, the

movie shows Lucy join the hide-and-seek game, along with her other three siblings (Susan, Peter and Edmund); in a desperate attempt to find safe shelter, she opens perchance the door to a back room.

The veil covering the wardrobe brings in the ancient motive of the forbidden door, hiding from the eyes of the outsiders.

The game will help her locate the room and pull down the white veil that was concealing the mysterious wardrobe and even walk into this solitary dresser whose door was engraved with symbolical effigies that will coach the little girl and prepare her for the new reality to which she is about to travel – there will stand out among these the Edenic tree that was shielding Narnia from the damaging acts of the Jadis Witch (eg. the source of the dystopic structures in the immediate reality), the crown above (eg. the fight for the universal sovereignty) and underneath, the sun rising out from the waves (eg. the idea of death and rebirth; the defeat of death).

The movie, thus, focuses on the idea of random occurrence or hazard, by replacing the humdrum pattern of tales, especially the Sleeping Beauty, which introduces the protagonist while touring the rooms in a house/palace and stumbling across the forbidden or no-one-knew-about room where danger is lurking once you walk beyond its threshold.

The hide-and-seek game, which in the movie substitutes the exploration of an unfamiliar space, brings up the story to date, makes it credible and, hence, alienates it from the tale but at the same time heightens the suspense . On the other hand, the game is here a password to the off-limits or uncharted spaces, also bearing a cognitive function: we easily access knowledge via a game. The entire current

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education system is actually steering towards a more ludic learning.

The same hide-and-seek game reappears when the four siblings, in their rush to get away from Mrs. Macready, as they were guilty of breaking the stained glass, will enter the room where the wardrobe was kept. Now, it is Edmund who will courtly invite his siblings to enter the wardrobe. The game, with its always present cognitive function, makes Peter and Susan haply experience the reality behind this piece of furniture.

We also notice how the hide-and-seek game is triggered by an individual plight: when the movie starts, the four siblings are doing crosswords while trying to kill some time on a rainy summer day, a situation that prompts the crisis of boredom and ennui. Lucy is the one to come to their rescue with the idea of playing hide-and-seek; later, when a new dilemma emerges, namely the fear of being held responsible before Mrs. Macready, the solution is to hide from her and enter the back room.

That is why the game of hide-and-seek is a response to certain existential crises and provides a potential answer by blanketing the immediate reality and accepting a meta-reality which, in its turn, makes available the password to the contiguous truth, bizarre in its uniqueness and unexpected by the instantaneity to disclose itself to the horizon of expectation.

To Lucy and her other three siblings, the entrance into the fantastic land of Narnia is a cognitive experience during which the biblical story is ‚retold’ by means of images and symbols that crossed their path while reading tales and mythological stories recognizable to children their age. For that matter, the lines of the four siblings – kings in their adulthood at the end of the movie, still gathered together by chance around the famous Lamp-post, provide an explanation to everything – the fact that a story of the tale glided before their eyes. Or better yet, as Lucy said it, the ‚dream of a dream’, thus supporting Susan’s words (‚It seems like a dream!’) as they were both its listeners and protagonists.

2. The Wardrobe

The enigmatic image of the wardrobe in the peculiar empty room in the manor of Professor Kirke is a clear indication of the

symbology of enclosure and we interpret it as the vetero-testamentary ketos which swallowed Jonah and also, in an arch over time, the tomb where Savior Jesus’ lifeless body was placed. In all these cases, the sealed, dark space, connected to death and also to the sensation of cold in both the movie and the book so as the proximity becomes more suggestive, assures of a conditioned tolerance to a world of perfection or to an exemplary redemption if a n d o n l y i f m a n c o n f r o n t s t h i s overwhelming danger, thus going through a radical ontological change (metanoia, “a transformative change of heart, of understanding, humbleness”) at the end of the death experience; in other words, if man fully fathoms death for his resurrection.

The story of the wardrobe is also symbolical. The magic apple was only present in the magical Narnia Land to defend it against the internecine influence of Queen Jadis. Then, a fruit of this tree reaches our dystopic world, with Aslan’s permission, healing Professor Kirke’s mother. The core of the magnificent fruit was planted by Professor Kirke in his garden and a towering tree sprang out of it. But a lightning struck the tree and Professor Kirke carved out of it the wardrobe-gate to the world of Narnia. The magic apple tree, alias the wardrobe, on whose door an imposing tree was sculpted, a royal crown on top and the sun underneath, setting beyond the sea, reminds us of the biblical tree offering the knowledge of good and evil, located in the middle of the Garden of Eden. Similar to that tree, Narnia’s magical apple tree gives access to the direct knowledge of the Good (Aslan) and Evil (Jadis), of their realms and of the consequences of their actions. The tree represents the requirement for entering the land of immediate knowledge and also of their return into the mimetic world that is theEarth. But knowledge involves death. This is the reason why anyone who is coveting for this knowledge (the royal crown: The Kingdom of Good) needs to go through death (eg. in the wardrobe, the ketos’ belly, the tomb, etc), to assume the end of life (the absolute evil) by immersing themselves into the lowest tenebrous fears (the sun setting into the sea).

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3. The cold: a symbol for the transfixing fear

L u c y w a l k s i n t o t h i s m u r k y , unrecognized space and gently closes the door. Suddenly, she feels fur coats behind her and above them there was another world, a door to the snow-bound world of the creeps of fear of unknown. The shivery, frozen winter is, to our belief, the symbol of fear freezing your senses to a still.

Lucy feels how the fear of the unknown permeates all her bones. The white of the snow blends with the darkness of the wardrobe, since the night represents an eternal winter of the soul.

The first entity she meets is a faun, called Tumnus, a composite being who bemuses the sense of sight, stopping it dead. The little girl has no clue what he is, she cannot pinpoint its species: a human head, legs of a he-goat, etc.

He is the only one, so far, to complete the canvas of the eerily unknown. In all of this transfixation, there are a few dynamic elements flickering towards reminding us of the breath of life or, better yet, of hope to return to life: the lamppost guarding the frontier between the seen and unseen worlds, the falling of snowflakes, the warmth of the tea that Lucy is sipping in the faun’s house, the fire in the faun’s fireplace and the incantation played by the faun on a flute. Nevertheless, that good feeling induced by the flavored drink, as well as the faun’s song, will plunge Lucy into a death-like sleep from which only the roar of a lion she did not know and whose ghost showed in the blaze wake her up. At that moment, she remembers that she had been gone from home for a while; scared, she would rush home, then entering the same wardrobe-door she had before. Upon her return, she was stunned to realize that she had been absent for only a few minutes. That is why her siblings did not even become aware of her missing, as they were busy with the seeking part of the game. More than that, she manages to spoil the game with her frantic screaming in an attempt to reassure them that she is finally back.

4. The fall of Man out of too much curiosity (Adam tempted by Eve through the serpent); the Spy, accuser and the traitor (Juda)

Edmund is the middle brother who teases Lucy as he does not believe a word of what his sister is telling the other siblings, after what she had experienced at the back of the wardrobe. Unlike the book, where Edmund enters Narnia during the hide-and-seek game right after Lucy, in the movie he decides to follow her one night when Lucy gets out of bed and walks again in the wardrobe to meet with the faun Tumnus.

In other words, the movie replaces the hide-and-seek game with a silent night, to focus on the fact that the two children do not share the same experience in Narnia (eg. the game).

Edmund is therefore introduced as a real spy who, under the cover of the night, is stalking his sister, with no wide-awake witness to this event. His first experience in Narnia is violent and, consequently, he will fraternize with the absolute Evil and sell his conscience. Alternatively, as Lucy is on her second visit, she is yearning to see her strange, yet amiable friend, Mr. Tumnus.

Therefore, Edmund is following his sister, torn by curiosity, and reaches that dark space when he feels the creeps of fear-like winter. He is in the same world as his sister, but instead of finding her, he will instead meet the Mistress of Fear, Jadis, after being thrust to the ground, frozen in fear, by a ghoulish creature, Dwarf Ginnarbrik. She is the only one to blame for the eternal winter that was about to envelop the entire magical land of Narnia. Her arrival resembles, both in swiftness and a p p e a r a n c e , t h e S n o w Q u e e n ’ s i n Andersen’s homonymous tale.

The same inquisitive and naughty boy, a prisoner of his vanquishing rational thinking, he catches the eye of the wan, white woman, wearing a fur cloak, which she offers to the boy, promising to share so that he warms up.

As a matter of fact, the warmth she offers is a great illusion. The White Witch does not take long to understand that the boy is human (eg. “a Son of Adam”), therefore quite a serviceable individual. She will hasten to find out whether he has any other siblings and how many. Then, luring him with a taste of power (she promises to make him the master of Narnia) as well as the sweetness and world’s opulence (she treats him to a hot chocolate and Turkish delight), she will secure his promise that he would

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betray his own siblings, intended now to become his subjects.

It is he who tells on the faun Tumnus, the host of Lucy. This disclosure will set in motion the destruction of the faun’s house, his imprisonment and, finally, his murder, Jadis turning him into a stone block.

5. The White Which, Jadis: winter – the frozen sleep of the lethargic biblical snake

Contrary to the book that depicts Jadis with black hair and red lips, a true countenance of the demonic female seduction, the movie favors a riveted ice-white image of Witch Jadis, with colorless blond death-like hair, blue and glass-cold eyes. Her frosty appearance, similar to the eternal season of polar winter, lacking any glimpse of life, that the Witch inflicts, thus dragging the entire land of Narnia into an immovability close to death, along with the never-ending suffering caused by the piercing cold associated with the creeps of fear and of the terror at the thought of the draconian punishment at the Witch’s hand, able to turn the unruly into stone, reminds of the Snow Queen in Andersen’s tale on the one hand, and on the other hand, of witches capable of metamorphosing humans into rocks. The image is that of the lethargic state of the pre-cosmogonic chaos.

Torpor will embrace the monster or the demon in the Sumerian and Asiro-B a b i l o n i a n , I n d i o - I r a n i a n , G r e e k mythologies and even God, described in the vetero-testamentary Hebrew texts or in the Romanian folklore. It is said that sometimes the frontier hero can be touched by a lethargic state when he reaches the underworld (eg. Gilgamesh who fell into a deep sleep after crossing the Styx River; Vritra will fall sound asleep after taking the waters of the world captive; Apsu, the male principle of Chaos, will start a war against gods who disturb his malefic sleep with their noises; Vishnu sleeps on the thousand-eye snake that was floating above the water of the primordial Ocean; Prajapati is swept by a dying-like slumber after completing the cosmogonic works; Zeus also falls prey to a state of deep exhaustion after confronting monster Typhon who had cut and hid his ligaments from hands and legs, thus depleting him of energy. The Romanian folklore often features the Demiurge in a state of total

lassitude enveloping him during the process of cosmogony; the vetero-testamentary God is also struck by fatigue at the end of Creation. V.I. Propp noticed that there is a close connection between the lethargic state and the interdiction to sleep in certain initiation rituals (see Prâslea cel voinic și merele de aur, where the hero will build a whole fort to help him stay awake) and also in the novo-testamentary texts in the form of frequent advice to keep a close watch. This fact will be included into the book and movie on Narnia, in the warning expressed by Professor Kirke to little Lucy in the Epilogue, when she tries to return to the wardrobe to reach Narnia Land again (“Best to keep your eyes open!”)

But the true colors of the witch (eg. of death, primordial chaos and eternal hell) will be seen in the scene of execution of Lion Aslan, when Jadis shows up dressed in black from head to toe, with only a black wing, a vulture head on her right shoulder and pitch-black eyes.

In almost all the world beliefs, the totem-bird – vulture – represents cleanliness, shrewdness, swiftness, spiritual elevation, etc., with no connection to the demonic, hell or the underworld. The eagle is king in the sky, a bird associated with the heavenly light. In the New Testament and the orthodox iconography, the eagle is compared to Evangelist John, who succeeds to rise as high as the eagle, which makes him able to identify the essence of the divine Logos as love, above all (John, 4:8).

In Apocalypse of St. John the Apostle (4:18), there are four beings before the throne of God, as many images as the godly plan: one of them resembles a lion (royalty), the second is an ox (sacrifice), the third has a human face (embodiment of the human) and the fourth resembles an eagle in flight (The Holy Spirit sent from above to the God’s chosen).

In other words, Jadis renounces the symbolism of the eagle, turning it into a weapon intended to hit Lion Aslan who, in her opinion, sacrifices himself for Edmund, from an absurd and aimless reason – love - and lets himself be vainly tortured and scoffed by the monstrous and devilish creatures on her payroll. On the other hand, Jadis flaunts that she is the almighty and the only mistress of Narnia, entitled to assume the power insignia from the “old” Aslan. From the emblem of light and upper

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atmosphere, the eagle thus becomes the symbol of the ruling darkness.

In the final scene of the battle, Jadis reveals another side of her – an excellent fighter, the Amazonian woman, whose crown is now replaced with an animal fang-shaped helmet (a sign that her power was expiring) while wearing around her neck a mane like Aslan’s so as to spread terror among combatants and to parade to the others that she is the one to take Aslan’s place; as a sign of victory upon the Lion, she will wear the mane, a symbol of power and royalty.

Her appearance on the battlefield without her crown, with a helmet simulating stylized animal fangs and a simulacrum of power insignia (the lion mane around her neck), represents the perfect image of a has-been who will give their all in battle just to avoid admitting defeat.

The animal fang-shaped helmet, as well as the lion mane, foreshadow, we believe, her killing by Aslan: strangulation and devouring of her head with his fangs, at the end of the battle. Jadis’ costume is a clear indication of her total reliance (almost obsessive) upon Aslan, despite her efforts to display supremacy.

6. The key appearances of Professor Kirke

We believe that Professor Digory Kirke, a part magisterially played by actor Jim Broadbent, has an exegetic role in the movie’s oikonomia. He explains or challenges us to delve into the unknown. Professor Kirke will appear three times throughout the movie, all three instances displaying parts of his exegetic role, as we will see below.

The Professor – a shy jiminy cricket

Once Lucy and Edmund return from the frozen land of Narnia, when Edmund refuses to admit in front of Lucy, Peter and Susan that he had really been there, as he had something terrible to hide (the promise of being made king over the Kingdom of Narnia and turning his own siblings into his subjects), Professor Kirke proves to Peter and Susan that neither logics nor a simple judgment could help them to sustain their arguments according to which Lucy was delusional regarding the experience she had

gone through beyond the Wardrobe. To back up his words, Professor Kirke asks Edmund’s older siblings – Peter and Susan - an almost rhetorical question about an authentic act of goodwill ever performed by Edmund, just to underline – as the voice of c o n s c i e n c e – t h e b o y ’ s f i s h y a n d unprincipled nature, in spite of the fact that his statement had been taken as reference by his two older siblings.

The Professor – a reconfirmation of the voice of conscience to reveal another way of finding the truth, ignored by the average man

At the end of the scene in Narnia, (a moment coinciding with the end of the movie), when Professor Kirke welcomes them next to the Wardrobe door and asks them out of a feigned curiosity where had they been and they answer that there was no way he would believe them, he responds by issuing another challenge “Try me!”. For a second time he proves that he would not take the beaten path of logics and common sense but, in fact, he reconfirms that the truth can never be discovered by following a worn-out, profane track, accessible to anyone.

Tumnus’ voice = Professor Kirke’s voice = Aslan’s voice

The words spoken to Lucy by the faun Tumnus at the end of the movie, on the Cair Paravel Castle’s veranda, when she worries about Aslan’s departure after the crowning of the siblings (“We will see him again, any time; One day he’ll be here, and the next he won’t (...). He is not a tame lion!”) include a coded syntagm (“a tame lion”) that, in our opinion, seems to hint at the idea of the “unexpected, taken aback”; to which Professor Kirke will also refer in the Epilogue – while trying to get back to Narnia through the Wardrobe, Professor warns Lucy that she cannot return like that, as he is speaking from his own experience because he himself had an unsuccessful attempt. However, he warns her that this thing will happen when she expects it the least and, until then, she had better “keep her eyes open”; he was just provoking her to keep constant watch. As a matter of fact, the two of them (Tumnus and Professor Kirke) are the embodiment of Lion Aslan’s voice.

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7. The gifts that define the three remaining characters (Lucy, Peter, Susan)

The meeting with Father Christmas is defining for the protagonists who had escaped the authority of Witch Jadis. Father Christmas comes to acknowledge and seal the role that each of the siblings (Lucy, Peter and Susan) will play in the redemption of Narnia by the gifts he offers to them. Edmund is the only one missing, but he had fallen prey to the charms of the White Witch and he would need saving along with Narnia.

The gifts from Father Christmas are not mere toys, but real and effective weapons in the greatest and truest battle in the life of those three children. The story of Father Christmas and insignificant gifts on Earth are transformed into the brutal reality of the frightening battle between the Good and the Evil, as well as wrapped in a deep magic about which Aslan warns Peter, the only one eligible to control destinies.

Lucy will receive a cordial from Father Christmas, meant to heal any wound, a symbol for the remedial, total and unconditional love. Similarly, she will get a dagger to use whenever in need; in other words, under the semblance of frailness, the strong and genuine love heals everyone.

Susan will be given a bow and arrow, thus acquiring the role of the centaur archer or of the aimer (an avatar of centaur Oreius, the general in Lion Aslan’s army); plus, she will get a horn that she can blow for help. The two symbolical gifts will turn Susan into the sharp symbol of reason which, under the semblance of force and invincibility, is actually very vulnerable

Peter will receive instead a sword and a shield so that the older brother, via the symbolism of these gifts, be associated with the warrior by excellence, similarly to the fighting saints and archangels (e.g. St. George, Sf. Minas, archangel Michael, etc.).

8. The names of the characters are not randomly selected, but they rather bear a resonance in more geographical areas with deep inference in the germination and spread of Christianity (micro-Asian, Judaic, Central Europe, North Europe, etc.).

Aslan has a Turkish origin and it means “lion”. We believe that the etymology of the protagonist name can refer to the quick Christianization of Asia Minor (Turkey of today) in the first century, when there were already Christian congregations 20 years after the well-known Pentecost in the year 33 A.D., at the south and west of Asia Minor (see the Book of Acts 13:13—14:26, 1 Corinthians 16:19, Colossians 4:12–16, 1 Peter 1:1; 5:1–3) that preached the Christian message throughout Europe. At the same time, the etymology can bring to mind the cradle of the primary orthodoxy - Constantinople, which until the 15th century, was the heart of the Byzantine Empire.

Jadis, the name of the White Witch, seems to resemble the French adverb jadis, which means “former”, thus referring to the static past, death, lack of perspective.

Lucy includes the root of light (louk- / leuk- (PIE) > (lat.) lux. She surely reminds us of martyr Lucia, the patron saint of the blind, an eyesight giver. The character of Lucy has, in both the book and the movie, the role to enlighten her siblings, to open their eyes to another way of perception, thinking, to a new reality. The gift that Father Christmas gave to her (a cordial) directs us to the idea of light, and also of love and devotion, as all three are one.

Susan is a Jewish name (shushan “lily, lotus”). The character of Susan seems to resemble the novo-testamentary Susan (Luke, 8:3) who was always among the –followers – apostles of Jesus, along with Joanna and Lucy. Once she meets Aslan, she and Lucy will stand by him at all times. On the other hand, the symbolism of the flower of lotus inspires the idea of the awakening of the human conscience and communion with deity, of birth and rebirth, while the lily represents royalty and purity alike. This is a flower frequently present in the Christian iconography, accompanying the representations of the Holy Virgin and also of Archangel Gabriel’s or St. Anthony’s.

In conclusion, the character of Susan mainly retains the idea of purity and conscience awakening, renouncing rationality in order to meet Aslan, the Great Savior.

Peter takes the biblical name of Apostle Simon – Petrus (< (lat.) petra “rock”), on which Messiah promises to build His Church. In the movie, Peter (e.g. unshaken faith) is the warrior who will fight for the

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Christian virtues, such as love (e.g. Lucy), purity (e.g. Susan) and the spiritual richness (e.g. Edmund) and defend them with his life.

Edmond refers to the unfortunate Anglo-Saxon King Edmond, martyrized after his beheading by the Vikings, as he refuses to recognize their supremacy. The legend says that Edmond was tied to a tree, pierced with arrows and then beheaded. The name of Edmond, changed into Edmund in the Germanic area, means ‚the one who protects the wealth/fortune’ (ead “wealth” + mund “protection”). The character of Edmond is also tied to a tree in the gloomy and frozen land of Queen Jadis, when he proves himself useless; unlike the martyr, he was there because he had not brought his siblings along, due to inaptitude, and he had also betrayed his family. Forgiven by Aslan and his siblings, Edmond makes a decision to defend Narnia (e.g. treasure) until his last breath against the virulent Jadis and willingly joins the Beruna battle.

The Dwarf / Satyr Ginarrbrik (in the Disney version) is only called the Dwarf or the Black Satyr in the book, a personal servant of Jadis, the White Witch; his name reminds us of the black dwarf Nikabrik in the first volume, Prince Caspian. The name of the dwarf, with a Norlander sonority, emphasizes his affiliation with the chilly area of the misty North, devoid of any sunlight.

9. Faun Tumnus

The origin of this word takes us to Latin, autumnus “autumn”, which went through an aphesis of the first syllable (au-). His chromatic scale is also on the autumnal orbit. Symbolically, autumn is known to be a season of sadness, nostalgia for the summer warmth, desperation, but also a time of harvest abundance and full satisfaction of our senses of taste and smell.

As a matter of fact, the fauns are gods of fertility in the Roman mythology, and also protect forests, fields and herds. Even though they sometimes sparked fear in the lonely travellers, it was still them who guided these people whenever needed. The Romans had a Faunus god, associated with the Greek Pan.

Mr. Tumnus retains a few of the ancient Greek-Roman features. Lucy is scared of him, but he will disclose to her the name of the land she had reached, telling her a story

about the White Witch and the curse of the eternal winter, he carefully leads her through the woods to his house, plays host for her several times, etc., even though the thought of delivering her to witch Jadis did cross his mind. However, another trait of his is visible – cowardice, which but he will renounce soon, confessing to Lucy that he regretted not resembling his father, a sign that betrays his nostalgic nature (even if not substantial) that we see in his name - Tumnus.

Tumnus is a faun inconsolable about the eternal winter and who agrees to become a spy for Queen Jadis. In spite of that, he promises little Lucy on her first visit to Narnia, that they would even attack the sardines (back then a delicacy, both for Lucy during the Second World War and for t h e N a r n i a n s ) , w h i c h s h o w e d h i s disposition for welfare and prosperity.

The name of Oreius, the general in Aslan’s army, refers to the verb orior, oriri (lat.) “to rise”. Oreius, as well as Otmin, are not mentioned in Lewis’ book, they only play in the movie. He represents a symbol, as we believe, of not necessarily the fight against a dual nature, but a battle for wisdom, balance, subjugation of the brutish side of man, reminding us of the centaur Chiron, extremely honored by the Greek gods and heroes.

Otmin seems to sound like the Arab term ottoman / osman “the army leader”): the cavernous voice of the Inferno; the Minotaur stands for the violent and wrecking force of the underworld, the cunning strategy and the dread of the darkness foretold by his very mouth . Therefore, if General Oreius represents the embodiment of the human nature’s victory over the beast side, then General Otmin remains a simple army leader, born for the war per se, with no past or future.

The three brothers on their quest to find Aslan = the three magi from the East

The image that the movie uses to depict the three siblings roaming through the unwelcoming and deserted snowy field on their way to lion Aslan’s army seems to exploit an older picture of the three magi from the East crossing the sandy and hostile desert on their way to Bethlehem where the Savior had been born. The goal is hence the same, meeting the Savior.

Father Christmas is not Aslan, as we might expect, but he seems to take after the

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Forerunner of Jesus, St. John the Baptist, who promises the return of the golden era.

The Christmas gifts moment is followed, not without a reason, by the distressing episode of cutting across the frozen river, which is comparable with John’s water baptism.

Towards the end of this dreadful scene, Peter’s sword crux is seen coming out the surface, followed by Peter’s and Susan’s heads, unhurt. Lucy broke loose from Peter’s protective hand for a second but she comes back up soon, among the mad screaming of her older siblings.

The scene with the cleansing is significant, especially since it is followed by the meeting with the lion Aslan. It was required that the three siblings purify themselves prior to the meeting with the almighty Aslan, an avatar of Savior Jesus Christ.

Similarly, the novo-testamentary image according to which the three magi are the ones to present gifts to the Savior is converted here into Father Christmas handing out presents to the children, similar to the well-known tradition of St. Nicholas (Santa Claus). Father Christmas can be interpreted as well as an avatar of Aslan himself, who somehow rehearses the great meeting of the children with the latter. The big and unkempt hair seems to picture Aslan’ mane.

The character of Father Christmas recycles more patterns (old and new) at the same time, such as of John the Baptist’s, Saint Nicholas’ and also Savior Jesus Christ’s.

The pursuit of Father Christmas after the three children guided by the Beavers, mistaken for the White Witch by the fugitives, likely repeats the scenario at the beginning of the movie. Back then, when the siblings were running from Mrs. Macready after breaking the stained glass with the ball, they could hear her steps approaching, in spite of the voice that was fading away. Some critics say that they were not actually followed by Mrs. Macready, but by... Aslan in person.

Conclusions

In our opinion, the idea of the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is quite indicative of the f a c t t h a t t h e a p p r o a c h e s o f t h e contemporary media use more and more

mythological images whose language centers on the term of magic. There is a stronger and engaging mythology – magic – religion relation, an equation where religion is interchangeable with magic and the latter uses widely known mythological images. In a contemporary version, magic verges on replacing religion. At first sight, we could say that we are witnessing what is called the humanization of religion: religion is to be always perceived as a system of rigid rules, moral and social, almost incomprehensible for the average person and most of the time rejected, due to ignorance.

For the common individual, magic breathes the air of the social, mysterious and the non-conventional, thus being more enticing and desired, thanks to its depth (deep magic). Even though loyal to certain precise rituals, it does not exclude by social sanctions but rather include by challenge (eg. of curiosity, taste for the extravagant, for the out-of-the-box, g obtrusiveness, the desire to belong to the elite – eg. secret brotherhood, etc).

Magic is therefore regarded as a strange password by the religious mystic, just for its ability to arise curiosity. The identity function of religion – a voucher for cohesion in the social life and identity of the ethnical communities – is now shifted towards universal magic or, as we say, global, which renders no thought to cultural, ethnical criteria, etc.

The movie shows that the term of religion swaps places with magic, now assumed with a different meaning when Aslan mentions the deep magic to Peter, which is a force beyond everything and controls the destiny of everyone, thus describing a hidden reality that does not sustain manipulation and is placed above any thinking system or social-religious organization.

In this case, magic does not share its common meaning of having the desperate man, because of their own impotence, command the supernatural powers, but instead we have a supreme divine control, while man is a mere subject. The serfs of this magic (= universal order / law) are also mystical beings, such as Aslan, Jadis, etc. This magic was conceived when Narnia was created by Aslan and Jadis, an event to which man was nothing but a witness (see Professor Kirke). This universal law, called deep magic, could represent a meaningful collocation for what Christianity calls

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“God’s image/seal” permeated in all His Creation (including humans), an image to

which God Himself bows down.

References Carl Gustav Jung (2014). Arhetipurile și inconstientul colectiv – Opere complete, vol.9/1, trad. rom. de Vasile Dem Zamfirescu și Daniela Ștefănescu. București: Editura Trei. Tzvetan Todorov (1973). Introducere în literatura fantastică, trad. rom. de Virgil Tănase, prefaţă de Alexandru Sincu. București: Editura Univers. V.I. Propp (1973). Morfologia basmului. Rădăcinile istorice ale basmului fantastic, trad. rom. de Radu Niculescu. București: Editura Univers.

Internet website https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10-Y-oUONOM accessed on 01.07.2017

Trans. Iuliana Hristescu & Bianca Zbarcea

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10-Y-oUONOM

The literary character and the movie character Case study: the role of Anetta from Youth Without Youth (2007) - by

Fr. Coppola and Eliade’s character

Adriana TITIENI, Ph.D, SNSP, Associate professor at Universitatea București

Abstract This article aims to depict the construction of a secondary film character, based on a specific

method of the theater (Meyerhold’s method), in the sense that the type of director practiced by Francis Coppola allows the actor to make use of the experience gained through the theater as a director and discover the full potential of an actor. The Film Youth Without Youth was based on the long rehearsals for the secondary roles. There is a long way from the literary character to the film character , which may include two stages: a careful training and the act itself.

keywords: Coppola, Eliade, literary character, acting in film, gestuality

Introduction Often in the construction of a movie

character the danger of overplaying is involved. But apart from this, there is also the obstacle related to information. The more you know about the character, the more you are tempted, as an actor, to express all this information. Consequently, everything becomes even more difficult when it comes to the screening of a classic content.

The character named Anetta from Youth without youth by Mircea Eliade is not a main character. But the work itself automatically carries a complex luggage of information supplied by the reception of the fantastic opera of Mircea Eliade. Any role, no matter how small, based on his work,

forces you to render a performance that prioritizes the strangeness and a symbolic charge. With Eliade, the ignition also brings a particular type of emotion.

But the game of an actor has as main objective the control of emotion. In this article, we have decided to analyze the self-control techniques in the act, found in the experience acquired by interpreting Anetta in the first installment of Fr. Coppola.

The control of emotion in the film

Vsevolod Meyerhold (1874 - 1940), Russian director, brought up at the school of Real ism under the guidance of Konstantin Stanislavski, strongly impressed by the non-realistic vision about the theatre

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of Gordon Craig, he became determined to give life to the ideal actor that he imagined under the look of the “Above-puppet”. For this he starts searching for a style of conventional performance and also of an anti-realistic one. Following Gordon Craig, Meyerhold believes (after Boyd, 1971) that the main instrument of work of the actors - the physical body – is not graceful enough and is not suggestive at all, being adapted just to the requirements of the daily life. Therefore , as i t i s necessary , the intermediate scenic presence of an actor requires a systematic effort. In order to achieve such a goal, Meyerhold abandons the internal appearance of labour to the actor himself (considered essential in the realistic-psychological theatre) and he follows the path of searching new brilliant ones, extending his research in all of the areas which could nourish the cultivation of the outward appearance of the actor’s performance (in the same piece of work). Thus, Meyerhold studies the movements of the actor in the Eastern theatre from the dell'Arte Comedy, the animal movements, he takes over by exercising with its actors some elements of fencing, gymnastics, pantomime moments, music-hall, he studies Pavlov’s opinions regarding the conditioned reflexes and leaves himself covered by the influence of those artistic currents (Constructivism, Symbolism et cetera), as well as by the concepts of theatre belonging to Maeterlinck, wanting to create an appropriate method of training by which the actor can reach perfect control over its means of expression. The theoretical concepts about Meyerhold’s theatre are presented in the book "Le Theatre theatral” (Pitches, 203). His method is at the opposite pole of the Stanislavski’s method.

For Meyerhold, the key term in theatre was the word "game", therefore he demanded his actors not to feel, but to play, not to identify with the role, but to bring out in bold relief the most accurate and most expressive conception of the show they "play". But this "game" had to have some precise rules, on which it is based, as a matter of fact, the bad method, known in the world of theatre as the name of biomechanics (abide). Then, the actor had to have a rich reserve of technical resources, he had to know and control all processes of creation (for they can be able to use them at an appropriate time), they also had to be

able to play not only the gag, but the tragedy and melodrama and funny moments in the style of the circus, the actor had to be juggler and acrobat, had to have awakened his sense of scenic space and have the qualities of a musician (Boyd, id.).

In consensus with these precepts found based on academic preparation, a role had to be built up on a territory of innuendoes and certain rules, which could resist the myth of the truthfulness of the cinema, as it is known that there are strong theories about the distinction between the scenic act and the floor act. But Coppola's concept does not accept the idea that there is a prejudice linked to the fact that a stage actor cannot play in a movie and vice versa. The main problem which makes the game play relates to the control of emotion.

Unlike the theatre, where the emotion is managed by using multiple rehearsals, in the film, with the time for repetitions being reduced, enhancing the value of emotion is much more difficult to achieve during the game. From my experience with other footages, but especially from my experience with live TV recordings, I found that compliance with the Meyerhold’s rules tend to reach achievement in most situations.

In a psychological sense, emotion is the primary type of response to impulsions. Dictionaries recognize the ratio between the emotion and personality of the subject, w h i c h m e a n s t h a t a n y e m o t i o n a l manifestation, beyond the techniques and methods of the game, can be influenced by unpredictable factors. After the psychology books, 75 percent of the population is within the touch time, while 25 percent belongs to the intuitive (Hedges, 1999, p. 24). The first category is based on direct knowledge: they must see, smell, touch etc., while insightful ones imagine, establishing links between other things. This implies that the talent of the actor depends on the psychological capability and place of the individual. Fine connoisseur of human nature, Coppola has established a few rules, whose functionality I have fully understood only at the end of the filming process. Respectively, he scheduled a week of rehearsal for the role of Anetta. For any other director, this time would have seemed much too long. On the other hand, he has never interfered with any practice session. At the end of the working week, a little before filming, he exposed his vision of a stage-manager, giving directives which

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relied exclusively on that long period of observation during the rehearsals. The method was based on the merger between the character from the actor’s mind and the usual manifestations of the actor.

The literary character Eliade's novel, “Youth with youth”

follows the fabulous existence of Dominic Matthew. "After a boring life as a provincial professor, in which he tried to memorize as much information as possible, he began to lose his memory. In this phase of chaos, assisting helplessly at his own spiritual dissolution, accidentally, he carries a mutation: he rejuvenates and acquires a fabulous memory. Gradually, he realizes that his role in the world is to gather as many samples of human civilization, from dead languages to the latest scientific discoveries, in order to build, as Noah did, a new ark through which the survivors of the Apocalypse can reconstruct the destroyed world. "(Rusti, 2005, p. 17)

Aneta fixes herself as a character in the first part of the narrative, after Dominic Matei, struck by lightning, is brought to the hospital. In Eliade's novel, she does not have an important role. The epic fragment provides little information about the character:

“Era Anetta, încă destul de tânără şi cea mai îndrăzneaţă. (Cu câteva zile mai înainte îi spusese, privindu-l adânc în ochi: „Când o să ieşiţi de aici, poate mă luaţi într-o seară la cinematograf...") îl ajută să se îmbrace, deşi n-ar fi avut nevoie de ajutor. Ghicea, din privirile ei dezamăgite, că vestonul nu cădea prea bine „e prea strâmt în umeri", spuse, şi cravata, albastră cu mici triunghiuri cenuşii, nu se asorta cu cămaşa în dungi. Curând intră internul de serviciu. Începu să-l examineze, încruntat, cu atenţie.

- Se vede de la distanţă că nu sunt hainele dumitale. Ai putea deveni suspect. Va trebui să-ţi căutăm altceva. Doctorul Gavrilă spunea că are câteva costume de cea mai bună calitate; i-au rămas de la un unchi de-al lui.

- I-au rămas moştenire după ce-a murit, preciza Anetta. Şi nu e bine să porţi haine de la morţii altora. De la morţii tăi, e altceva; le porţi în memoria lor, aşa, ca un suvenir...

- N-are nici o importanţă, spuse zâmbind. Azi, în orice caz, nu mai e timp. Poate cu altă ocazie, când o să mai trec pe aici… ” (Eliade, 58) 4

This brief intervention of the character makes her an icon of Eliade’s type, a pioneer character, which completes the atmosphere of the hospital, from where Dominic Matei is preparing to escape. In my view, Anetta is a peripheral character, whose obvious role is to highlight the hospital's relaxed atmosphere, where the empathy of the medical staff facilitates the escape of Dominic

As part of an inter-war Bucharest, Anetta is trained from a young age, because the nursing profession was at the beginning, and it was easy to appropriate by just everyone. Then it can be said that she is a person up to date with the novelties, a cinematic amateur and sufficiently emancipated to make advances to Dominic. She is also a traditionalist woman, marked by a common mentality and superstitions. Her line about the clothes of the dead, specific to Eliade’s writing, completes her portrait, with this metaphysical dimension, indelible from Eliade’s characters. Anetta brings into question a superstition that acquires symbolic valences because the very meaning of the novel is linked to death.

Dominic is brought back to life, he actually extends his own life, through a total

“It was Anetta, still quite young and the most daring one. (A few days before, she had told him, looking him 4

deeply in the eyes: ‘When you get out of here, maybe one evening you’ll take me to the cinema…’) She helped him get dressed, although he wasn’t in need of help. He guessed, based on her disappointed regard, that the coat did not fit him well, ‘it’s too tight at the shoulders’, he said, and the tie, blue with small, ashen triangles, did not match the striped shirt. Soon the on-duty domestic entered the room. He started examining him carefully, and frowned. ‘It stands out a mile that these are not your clothes. You might become a suspect. We need to find you something else. Dr. Gavrilă said he had a few suits of the highest quality; he had inherited them from an uncle.’ ‘He left them to him when he died’, Annetta specified. ‘And it does not do to wear clothes from others’ dead. Your own dead, that’s something else; you wear them to remember the departed, like a souvenir…’ ‘It matters not’, he said, smiling. ‘Today, anyway, we don’t have the time. Maybe on another occasion, when I visit again…” (trans. Bianca Zbarcea)

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antinomy with his initial amnesia, acquiring a hyperbolic memory. He puts on a foreign coat, figuratively speaking, violating an interdiction, a common law. Therefore, Anetta is here the character who warns about the incoming danger, she is a kind of a premonitory voice, customary to Eliade's prose. That's why the faithful construction of the character necessarily implies this ambiguous dimension, which sets it in both the ordinary and the mystical plan. Eliade's characters always seem plain, mediocre even, but prove to be involved in the metaphysical world’s plan. So is Anetta, a character that is barely defined, but with this distinctive role of warning about the unusual experience that awaits Dominic Matthew.

The film character

Unlike the source, the script brought up a dynamic character. The symbolic side had been dramatically diminished, even from the character’s replies, not only being just more consistent, but also aiming at the prosaic area of life. Anetta from Coppola’s film is a chic, seductive woman, yet an element which activates the main character by causing his escape and, somehow, his existence from the larval state to which he was subdued in the hospital. Therefore, my character was based on establishing some playful relationships with Dominic Matei (interpreted by Tim Roth). To a large extent, Anetta, as a character, was claiming emotional resources capable of sustaining the act of seduction. Of course, she keeps the traits of an “interbelic” character, with its manners and mentality. This implied a careful study of that period, starting from t h e w a y s h e m o v e s u p t o t h o s e unmistakable gestures rooted in the mentality of those years. The character was also built on elements specific to femininity which initiate a type of relationship as amorous as unpredictable.

Coppola’s character had a pragmatic side, of an endearing woman, and another one, symbolic, through which the director wanted to mark Domini’s return to social life. However, Coppola didn’t mention anything about the character, his working method being based on two distinct stages: observation and construction.

In the rehearsal week, I experienced the Meyerhold method by trying to establish relationships with the Dominic character.

These personal experiments formed the basis of construction for the director. The freedom to experience has actually provided information about my ability to perform. Determining his attributes had the rehearsal as starting point.

The rehearsal Tim Roth is not a comfortable partner.

His acting involves individualism, which discourages any actor who values team acting. At the same time, he is also an unpredictable partner, dominated by contradictory emotions, which could have easily dissolved all the intentions of an inexperienced partner like I was at that moment.

Thus, rehearsals needed effective techniques to deal with a capricious, sometimes hostile partner.

Starting from the Meyerhold method, I tried to establish a strong relationship between my vision of the character and the a r t i s t i c p o t e n t i a l . I n M e y e r h o l d ' s conception, the actor must be aware of how to combine the two elements of their scenic presence: the passive, material instrument, meaning his own body, and the dynamic element, the reason, the one which controls and organizes the material.

Meyerholdian's actor's acting must not depend on the subconscious, the state of mind, or the inspiration of the moment, but must be perfectly aware and controlled, reflecting with clarity in the expression of the physical body. In his creative process, thinking must be at the forefront of c o n s c i o u s l y o r d e r i n g t h e s c e n i c manifestation to support the direction of conception. The actor must be perfectly aware while acting and they must have complete control over the physical and mental actions of the scene, both during and after their realization.

a. The movement The biomechanics, the training system

devised by Meyerhold in order to achieve a high level of mastery in the art of the actor, as an aim to build a harmonious correlation among all the elements of the process of creation and mastery of body movements’ expressive art. The exercises included in this training develop coordination, expressiveness, efficiency of movement for the actor. The biomechanical system is targeted primarily at professional actors and represents a physical means by which

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they can capture the thoughts, feelings, aspirations and emotions of the characters. In line with the biomechanical method, the motion cannot be separated from the process of creation - being an actor performing the main phase. It is the manner of expression through the creativity of the meyerholdian actor. Even when it is barely visible, the motion is the one that prepares the reaction and suggests a character’s next line. An actor who has a good control over his bodily expressiveness will be more eloquent in verbal expression as well. Even though the gestures will not render the words spoken, it can enhance in its unique way the verbal expressiveness.

• During the work week, we had a few goals; they usually consist of intense work on a role: Avoid routine, which usually causes boredom. • Trying to find real channels of communication with the partner

Control of emotions, which, in the present case was provided, on the one hand, by acting in the role entry, and on the other hand, work alongside a famous actor.

) Some of the Meyerhold exercises had

greater impact on me, others suppressed genuine feelings. However, statistically speaking, most of them helped me, leading ultimately to a construct where Coppola’s analysis started. Making a synthesis of the values, I can say that the Meyerhold exercise which helped the most was the change of the body position at each new interpretation. Out of the methods used I will mention the most effective. Firstly, the change of position (body, a part of the body), efficient due to the actor’s relational system and can create the illusion of a new character. Also, sometimes it can help gestuality, especially when it comes to

emotional states. Obviously, I do not mean the gestuality of a satirical play, but those small gestures that accompany a nurse’s job, such as preparing a syringe, tucking in the sheets or checking the thermometer. But in my case the results were not as astonishing as expected. Another technique involves minimizing the use of gestures, forcing the partner to interact through eye contact. The oldest theatrical technique involves linking the respiratory act with the preparation of a line. All of these techniques were of importance during rehearsals, helping me understand my intentions and the acting methods of my partner, Tim Roth.

To Meyerhold, the actor's art consists of the creation of plastic forms in space. It requires that the actors have precision in movement, flexibility, easily excitable reflexes and perfect control of body balance. Rational actions, plastics, expressions, clear gestures, crisp, uniform, carved reactions must involve the whole body, so that the whole body participates to each part of the m o v e m e n t . E v e n i f i t c a n n o t b e implemented in the film industry on a larger scale, exercises of this type may form the basis for the act, especially when the character’s discovery is made during the rehearsals. Being in continuous connection with the acting partners and audience, the meyerholdian actor can react with agility to all external stimuli existing in scenic space. Meyerhold also kept very much to the economy of movement, so actors must remove from their act - pure stylized - all intents and gestures that were not strictly necessary. They must understand, feel and consciously coordinate the placement and movement of one's body in the space offered by the scene the physical, external form of the role is considered to be the foundation when it comes to character building. Meyerhold used to demonstrate to actors that if their physical form is correct, t h e c o n t e n t o f i n n e r e m o t i o n a l , psychological and vocal expression will find the right path. The execution – formal in the beginning – of the result that should have been achieved, forces actors to justify this result spontaneously, without passing through the realist-psychological method.

A simple exercise, such as changing the position whenever resuming scene, resizes the character, offering both actor and spectator (in this case, Coppola) the

0

15

30

45

60

1.200 %

Changing body position with each interpretationAuxiliary gestualityReduced gestualityEach line per expiration

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opportunity to see another side of the character because a simple thing such as changing the position of the feet, helps with the actor’s self-suggestion and changes their attitude towards the character. With each new position, the character changes as well. The working method of Meyerhold, physical action coordinated through thinking was placed first, while emotional action, the search for the inner truth and verbal action is considered to come second in the preparation of the role. Meyerhold did not allow temperamental manifestation – in part - before the plastic, exterior form of the stage action was found and mastered. The movement on the stage is considered essential in the expression of the actor, and its constituent phases - the intention of the action and reaction itself - are intentionally accentuated. Instead, emotional expression is masked, reduced to its essential points - occurrence, development, climax and end - which does not, however, decrease in intensity. Although he considered emotion a secondary plan in the stage manifestation, the performing method proposed by Meyerhold is not without emotional impact - it suggests that emotional events are subordinate of the conscious organization of the role and that they should integrate perfectly into the spectacle’s time-space rhythm.

The actor must take care of the beauty of the form, not forgetting, however, that the form is l inked to the background. Meyerhold rejected the stage movement “itself”, absurd gestures or unjustified inner reciting of the text.

b. Word Although he primarily emphasized the

expressive stage movement, Meyerhold greatly valued the contribution of the word in the theatrical art, considering it necessary for the actor to learn to master consciously and verbally, the vocal expression. In Meyerhold's theatrical conception, the actor must strictly comply with accents, pauses, intonation sound height, pace and speed of speech on the verbal expression score. Each body posture in space generates a certain mental and emotional load which triggers the discovery of an "inner music" that the character embodied by the actor can express in words or through a meaningful silence.

During the trainings and rehearsals led by Meyerhold, inner monologues and

unwritten dialogues are expressed through glances, the silence between words, slowed gestures, plastic movements and musicality. The emotional states weren’t always externalized vocally. (Pitches, id, p. 81) Often, the text was blunt, plastic expression and verbal expression each having its own pace. Breaks intertwined in external, physical actions or actors’ speech does not indicate a cease of movement or inner “melody”, but their progression in dynamic scenes; the censorship of expression enhanced the augmentation of an inner emotion. To control the length and load break, the actor was required to have musical sense, to master the rhythm of speech and their movements, have scenic time consciousness and integrate the overall pace of the show.

In the rehearsal space of the film, all this seems unnecessary. At first glance, they contribute to forging links with the acting partner and in another sense, help the actor perform at their full potential, which is very important for the type of direction practiced by Fr. Coppola.

Acting in films After watching silently for a week of

rehearsals, Coppola knew exactly what potential we have and what I may require. He molded my character by taking into consideration my way of acting, focusing on two elements: feminine seduction and triggering that emotion that could determine the character Dominic Matei to start his new life. Anetta turns into a kind of siren, who calls Dominic to another realm, without this being ostentatious or overly emphasized.

As for me, I took over some of the experiences gathered during the rehearsals, which caused a natural emotional control. In front of the camera, the whole game consumed over a week was shattered, bringing to the fore a few other items, more precisely those that were very familiar to me. Insinuating gesture and the expression that denotes an undeclared intention became two of the landmark roles. The basis of the game was still Meyerhold's methodology, specifically motion control, which represented the main source of providing emotional states.

This freedom that Coppola offers to the actor is motivated by the fact that the careful observation throughout rehearsals actually helped identify the supreme

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qualities of that act. Therefore, Eliade’s character long melted in my conscience, making way for the new character, Coppola’s. Unlike during the rehearsals, the part itself, from the film, implied a new context. The movement witnessed by the camcorder changed into a spontaneous game due to the high degree of novelty of the context . Al though a technica l performance supported by methods, it helped preserve the actor’s intention.

Conclusions

The actor’s experience is built on accumulation of knowledge and theatrical experiments that can merge through the director’s coordination. Between the role created under doubtful inspiration and the one based on rigorous methods, the second provides not only safety, but also the possibility of control over a dramatic character. A method or an accumulation of techniques provides a complex role which is based on deep knowledge not only related to the character, as envisioned by the director, but also to the playful context that a movie implies.

References Neva Leona Boyd. 1971. Play and game theory in group work (A collection of papers) Paul Simon

Publisher. Pitches, Jonathan.2003.Vsevolod Meyerhold. London: Routledge Styan, J.L. 2011. Modern Drama in Theory and Practice: Volume III. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press Hedges, Patricia. 1999. Personality and temperament. București: Ed. Humanitas. Ruști, Doina. 2005. Dictionary of symbols from Mircea Eliade’s work. ed. a III-a. București:

Tritonic. Eliade, Mircea. 1994. Integrala prozei fantastice (The Integral of fantastic prose). vol. III. Iași:

Ed.Moldova.

Trans. Ariadna Titieni & Bianca Zbarcea

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PoV hybrid storytelling in virtual reality and its axiological implications (Case study: The AI Comrade)

Ioana MISCHIE , Ph.D.c UNATC, 5

Fulbright Grantee at USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles, California filmexpert CINETic

Abstract We inhabit an Era invaded by fake news, by audio-visual constructs that have learned how to blend

fiction and “non-fiction” flawlessly. This process is however often used to manipulate and misinform in a digital Era where according to a UK survey, people spend more time in front of the screen than they sleep. The result of mixing documentary and fiction is sometimes departing from most of the ethical ideals of a balanced world. We witness some of its unappealing symptoms in poor quality journalism, in art and in some of the social, political, economic aspects of our routine.

However, in the current article, we aim to ask ourselves: can we actually transform hybrid storytelling into a meaningful platform? Can we actually blend fiction and documentary constructively? With what intentions? Towards what results? Can hybrid storytelling convey something more powerful and more constructive than separated formats or approaches could? Can we discuss sensitive topics in a configuration that would put less pressure on the shoulders of the participants?

keywords: hybrid storytelling, virtual reality, immersion, social game, participative, subjectivity, point-of-view, interactive

Ioana Mischie is a Romanian cinematic storyteller, whose portfolio includes a vivid collection of filmmaking, 5

creative writing and transmedia storytelling. Graduated in Audio-Visual Communication and the Screenwriting MA program of UNATC, where she is currently enrolled for her PhD studies on expanded cinema. Currently affiliated as a Fulbright Grantee at USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles, California - as part of the Civic Paths transmedia research group and Mixed Reality Lab. Her cinematic projects were selected to highly qualitative programs such as the Berlinale Script Station, Sundance Workshop in Italy, Locarno Academy Meetings, Midpoint Central European Script Center, The Steamer Salon, have traveled at more than 50 festivals worldwide and received awards for storytelling, prototyping, filmmaking. Since September 2012, she is the co-founder and head of Storyscapes, a non-profit association focusing on transmedia storytelling and interactive narratives, created by a group of film and visual art students. Since December 2015, she is the program’s coordinator of CINETic, a recently founded research center focused on the interaction of neuroscience, audio-visual art and advanced technologies (VR, AR, MR). [email protected]

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The aim of the research

Johan Huizinga considered the ludic to represent a fundamental part in the evolution of society (Huizinga, 1949/1938). Taking this perspective into consideration, our legitimate question is - can we use hybrid storytelling as a form of game with constructive social implications? American game designer Jane McGonigal once asked “What if we decided to use everything we know about game design to fix what’s wrong with reality?” (McGonicgal, 2011) Our current challenge is to see whether we may use hybrid storytelling - with fictional roots to explore - and question sensitive glimpses of reality.

T h r o u g h o u t t h e f i l m h i s t o r y , theoreticians, critics and curators often classified film as either documentary or fiction, taking into consideration the b a l a n c e b e t w e e n “ r e a l i t y ” a n d “imagination”. The same configuration is applied to the cinematic virtual reality field, where VR experiences are often similarly tagged. Although we consider the mindset rather reductionist and inadequate on a general level (as it is difficult to argue for the existence of pure “non-fiction” and in the same measure it is difficult to argue for pure “fiction”), for the purpose of the c u r r e n t a r t i c l e w e s h a l l t a k e t h e classification as it is and expand in the current article on how the “two” former categories influence each other and moreover how the “two” categories, when mixed, can reach a new compelling form of art and human expression. Film scholar Thom Andersen suggested that “if we can appreciate documentaries for their dramatic qualities, perhaps we can apprec iate f i c t ion f i lms for the ir documentary revelations.” (Frase, 2016).

Hybrid storytelling in cinematic VR is in its infancy worldwide and therefore becomes more difficult to recognize and theorize especially when it explores the subjective point of view of a character.

We will therefore refer to “hybrid storytelling” as an acknowledged mix of the

“two” or more components resulting into a new multi-layered cinematic construct. We aim to analyze the effects of a hybrid VR installation and a potential analysis of its impact in small communities.

Journalist and critic Thomas Larson when trying to define the hybrid narrative as being rooted in a literary field underlines the existence of conflicting elements:

“Hybrid narratives are a bit of a misnomer: we create a narrative and then hybridize it with something that counters or is unlike that narrative. The result is often a piece that fascinates us because of how the writer moves between conflicting elements. Hybrid writers mix fact and fiction; poetry and prose; memoir and history; biography and memoir. The hybrid goes by a number of names: nonlinear narrative, composite, pastiche, montage, collage, mosaic, and bricolage; it is a form that blurs one genre with another; and it describes any narrative whose structure is fragmented, braided, threaded, broken, or segmented.” (Larson, 2017)

According to Mary Lea Bandy, chief curator of Film and Media Art at New York's Museum of Modern Art, "The most perceptive films about the world often mix and match their approach, style and format—blending the historical and narrative with real or re-created interviews." (Svetvilas, 2017)

Generally, when particularizing for an audio-visual platform, hybrid cinematic storytelling generally consists of a blend of documentarist and fictional paths. Still, there are numerous questions to be revealed: is there any ideal ratio for hybrid storytelling (% doc - % fiction)? Is the chronology of the project particularly important? Does it matter if the project is rooted at first in a doc or in a fiction? Does it matter how it is promoted and introduced to the public? Is transparency important in empathizing with a hybrid project? Does h y b r i d s t o r y t e l l i n g h a v e e n o u g h characteristics to become a genre in itself? Does hybrid storytelling have any specificity in VR that are not encountered in film or any other medium? Is hybrid storytelling attracting an increased social impact or engagement factor?

In the current article, our mission is not necessarily to impose or axiomatically define rigid forms of hybrid storytelling, but rather to explore a potential configuration

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of a hybrid story and the impact and consequences it may attract.

Methodology

We aim to contemplate on the layers of subjective PoV hybrid storytelling by exploring an in-depth case study: “The AI Comrade”, a Romanian PoV hybrid VR installation. The project started from a fictional premise and turned out to have an unconscious powerful participative component. As I was co-part of the creation process and of the follow-up with the participants, we aim to analyze the hybrid storytelling process extensively.

In June 2017, during a 3-days workshop, we have created the VR piece starting from a single idea: we have researched it, we have shot it, post-produced it, displayed it and further measured the feedback through questionnaires. The process took place under the supervision of the international trainers of the InfiniTIFF VR Workshop.

Technically speaking, we shot on Samsung 360 and the further display of the installation was made with Samsung Gear headsets. Therefore, we have measured the impact of the project only for the viewers that enjoyed the full installation and headset experience, not also for the ones that watched remotely on a flat Youtube screen.

Although the case study is still under observation, currently nationally and internationally displayed, the discoveries so

far are relevant for contemplating, extending and debating the implications of hybrid storytelling in the cinematic virtual reality narrated from a subjective point of view.

Demonstration

“The AI Comrade” is a 6-minutes-long cinematic VR project that we have created starting from an idea and following it up to the presentation stage during the fourdays long InfiniTIFF VR Workshop, in June 2017.

The InfiniTIFF VR workshop was coordinated by top international trainers such as Mads Damsbo, producer at Makropol, a pioneering Danish VR production company, Balder Brüsch - creative technologist at Makropol and Fred Baus - from Realab, a VR software studio from Luxemburg.

Genre-wise, the project initially began as fiction. However, it slowly developed into a site-specific hybrid VR dystopia, rooted in a fictional premise, but with the aim to develop an investigative documentary-driven approach. A simpler description of the project would be “a social science fiction” in the words of Peter Frase (Frase, 2016).

The overall project is currently aiming to evolve into a transmedial world with participative extensions (installation, social media, cinematic VR) meant to define itself as a futuristic anthropological study. It also

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aims to archive and investigate the position of the younger generation in relation to Eras or events that they have not directly explored (communism being only one example). It aims to raise questions related to how history may create prejudice and how we may counterbalance a linear information flow by a multi-layered debate.

The development of the project took place during four intensive days and had the following main stages:

The concept development (one day) The pre-production - staging and

shooting (one day) The production - polishing the story and

reshooting (one day) The post-production: equirectangular

editing, sound mix Presentation - installing and launching

the site-specific cinematic VR installation experience

Social media follow-up of the installation and further extensions

The Concept Development

During the lab a l l the se lected participants had to share the task of creating a site-specific world using the core-concept of a “mannequin”, as the location of the workshop was a former Communist fashion house populated by refurbished mannequins.

As methodology, each of the participants selected for the workshop was invited to propose three words inspired by the mannequin as a potential character lead. Soon, during a collective brainstorming session, the virtual board became populated by topics such as: “AI”, “post-communism”, “disconnectedness”, “absurdity”, “inner voice”, “utopia”, “fetish”, “embodiment”, “fashion”, “sci fi”, “objectification”, “ repet i t ion” , “ t ransgender” , “ ideal representation”, “potential”, “robot”, “limbo”, “loneliness”.

Later on, we were invited to work in teams of three to four people. Our team had to have a decisive role in filtering everything. Some of us were attracted to the idea of artificial intelligence and reversed conventions, others were attracted to the concept of building a site-specific and authentic experience. Some were keen on interacting with the participants by sharing with them an object or cloth from the

project. In the end, we have chosen a hybrid mix that promised to include layers of each.

Andrei-Nicolas Fiuiciuc was the one to greatly summarize and imagine the premise that we have immediately embraced. Our fictional premise was character-driven and was an organic synthesis of the AI, post-communism and the inner voice. After more rounds of development, we reached the following synopsis stage: a robot spy created in the Communist Era is discovered years later in the post-communist Era and questioned by the citizens of the “Brave New World”.

Still, after having a premise that we have fully empathized with, the questions were numerous: how were we going to narrate the story itself? How were we going to design the cinematic VR experience? Were we going to shoot from the perspective of a discoverer or from the perspective of the robot? What implications would each choice convey? Shall we focus only on the “here and now” and therefore create a subjective one-take? Shall we have a “ B e f o r e ” ( c o m m u n i s t ) a n d “After” (capitalist) type of narration? Shall we include a voice-over to diegetically guide the viewer or would it become over-explanatory? How can we expand the site-specific installation with layers that would be thought-provoking and coherent?

It is important to also understand the reasons behind all our goals. None of us were alive in Communist times, therefore what we wanted to avoid from the beginning was tackling a historical approach of this period or conveying the feeling that “we knew” more than we actually did. Instead, all of us had numerous unanswered curiosities regarding the controversial aspects of the Era and the differences between that Era and “our” contemporary home.

As one of our team members had a background in documentary filmmaking, we felt that the fictional world could actually become more meaningful if it embraced reality, if it generated a debate.

Therefore, we decided to include an active documentary component in the project and actually investigate what would people ask a presumably know-it-all representative from the Communist times (the spy-robot). Would the questions be able to reveal more than answers? Could the questions become, in fact, a portrait of the contrasts and similarities between the

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Communist and Post-Communist Eras? Would questions vary depending on genre or age? Were the questions interesting enough to support, later on, a VR cinematic experience?

Our intention had in a sense a self-discovery layer addressed to all the participants, but also the community as a whole. As McClusky used to say: “You are your data and once you understand that data you can act on it” (McClusky, 2009) In our case, each participant embodies the question that he/she addresses and once he/she understands it, we may find it easier to analyze our past, present and future as a community.

Structure-wise, we have decided to build the narrative in three “chapters”:

•The introduction: the Communist lab where the robot is created and prepared for its mission (one-scene)

•The moment of discovery: years later, the robot is rediscovered in a dusty corner of the contemporary world (two scenes)

•The interview: when the robot is questioned by the members of the Brave New World. (one scene/question)

We have decided to narrate from a subjective point-of-view, as it would provoke the participant to analyze the process bilaterally more than from the position of a distant observer. From the concept stage, we aimed to achieve a participative VR instal lation - the participants had to wear the costume of the “robot” in order to enter the convention, and then they would be invited to contribute with opinions.

The development of the concept was an organic process that came with a framework, but also left enough space for improvisation and self-adjustment.

Most of the choices we made took into consideration the limitations of the production process (short shooting time, site-specific locations), however without compromising the selected topic.

The pre-production

During the pre-production process, we were in charge with scouting the most appropriate shooting and presentation

locations within the Fashion House. We have discovered a secret dusty room that i n i t i a l l y s e e m e d p e r f e c t f o r t h e “Communist” scene. We have also scouted the location for the final chapter that would coincide with the presentation space, in order to create an increased feeling of immersion and reality-wonder.

During the pre-production, we have made numerous tests. We have tested more mannequin configurations in terms of size and color, we have also tested how to set up the camera in order to reveal the subjective point of view of the robot (realising that we will need a headless mannequin in order to convey a plausible point of view). Last, but n o t l e a s t , w e e x p l o r e d c o s t u m e c o n f i g u r a t i o n s a n d w e c h o s e t h e Communist jacket that the robot wore and swiftly became the unifying factor of the fictional character and of all further participants in the installation.

The production

Most of the shooting took place chronologically. We initially started to shoot the “introduction” scene - when the robot is created and trained in the Communist laboratory by a party member. After watching what we have shot, and after taking into consideration the feedback of our trainer Mads Damsbo, we decided to redesign the “communist” scene and to expand the action. We therefore had to evade the imposed space, and our safety net was “The Soviet”, a bar situated in Cluj.

“The Soviet” was immensely helpful in terms of props and location facilities.

We have placed the camera, adjusted the distance of the objects in order to fit the wide lenses of Samsung 360 and we started the rehearsals.

Shooting the “introduction” scene had most of all a fictional set-up, being played by one of our crew members, Daniel Oaida, interpreting a Communist party supporter designing the robot.

Later on, we have launched a teaser of the installation, by placing the mannequin in the Fashion House Hall and by inviting people to “ask a question” to the AI Comrade while the camera was set up.

We would like to highlight the fact that we have fully embraced the hazard and the people asking questions were not in any way censored: we encouraged diversity and we succeeded in attracting children,

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teenagers, adults and older individuals. Time permitting, it would have been interesting to be able to investigate and attract even more typologies of Romanian and foreign guests , with dif ferent backgrounds.

This was one of the revelatory layers of the project. As guests were reaching the InfiniTIFF space, we were introducing them to the background of the story and we were inviting them to address their question to the robot spy. During the questioning process itself, the crew was placed remotely, in order to allow the participants to have some privacy when addressing the fictional character. In many ways, it resembled a “confessional”, however not limited by walls.

The Odyssey of questions revealed the complexity of human nature and oscillated from genuine curiosities to deeper existential, philosophical dilemmas.

To name just a few: “What’s your name?”, “Where do you come from?”, “Can you climb walls?” (asked by a child), “When did you fall in love for the last time?” (by a young woman), “What are you doing here? [...] Are you undercover?” (by a young woman), “Did Ceausescu know what’s happening in the country when everything went wild?” (by a young man), “Is it true that dried out grass was painted into green grass in order to enchant the party?” (by a young man), “Are you happy?” (by a young woman).

While re-listening to the questions, we felt that in a sense they reveal an unexplored collective memory that deserved to be expanded. We realised that, paradoxically, although the questions awaited answers from a non-human entity, it attracts some of the most human curiosities. Most of the questions were included in the final edit.

The only mention to be added here is that indeed most of the participants that have contributed with questions expected “answers” from the robot and it took time to value the question-ology by itself. We are probably more accustomed to answers than questions. As a partial response however, they were invited to explore the installation from the point of view of the robot as well. In other words, we meant for each participant to feel free and wise enough to explore his or her own answers to the questions.

The presentation

The project was launched on the ground floor of the InfiniTIFF space - being the first one project to be showcased.

We created a ritual before commencing the experience. Before being introduced to the theme of the project, we explained to each “explorer” the context in which the project was made. If the explorer accepted the challenge of testing the cinematic VR experience we would go further with the process.

Each participant willing to explore “The AI Comrade” was first invited to get dressed in a communist suit in order to “enter the convention”. Then, she/he would sit relaxed in a seat close to a retro-futuristic ka le idoscopic mirror , whi le be ing introduced to the Samsung Gear headset equipment and the way to navigate it. The participant was advised to answer each question either loudly or to themselves when the time came.

In the first part of the experience, most of the participants would simply explore the communist surroundings and get familiar with the character they “embodied”. At times, they would touch their jacket and make the connection with the jacket in the VR experience. In the VR experience a Communist party member would briefly drop glimpses of their story. The first scene w o u l d s e r v e m o r e a s a n a r r a t i v e introduction to familiarize the viewer with the roots of its character.

Then, in the scene of discovery set up in the present-time, the viewer would go through a transition. It became more and more difficult to define an “identity”. The robot is moved into an unknown space. This creates suspense and curiosity.

The final scene shows the robot in the VR experience and consists of real-time quest ions addressed to the robot-participant. The viewer experienced them as if he/she was asked and he/she either responded or hesitated.

At the end of the experience, the explorer is helped to put down the headset and take off the suit. A real-time brief interview follows, usually led by one of the team members (Daniel Oaida), in order to describe the experience and to collect feedback.

In one day and a half, we have archived 54 feedback forms from the people who have experienced the site-specific project.

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The feedback form comprised two main questions: which was the favorite and the least favorite scene? Additional remarks or thoughts were encouraged and often included in the feedback round.

Among the favor i te scenes: the “questions” sequence (21), the Communist introduction scene (16), the discovery scene (4), the arrival scene (1).

One of the main reasons for enjoying the sequence with the “questions” was that it involved much more the public when solving the challenge. Another reason was that it was showcasing the same exhibition space but in a different context (3 mentions). Other reasons consisted of specific questions or quotes that the participants empathized with, as they felt personal and at the same time universal (the question about love, the question about the grass, a quote from the father of the kid).

One of the participants mentioned: “it transforms you into an exhibited being - it is a work of modern art”. Another one ment ioned: “I l iked i t when they interviewed me” (referr ing to the characters in the VR film interviewing the robot and thus identifying with the robot).

Another participant identified a feeling of “deja-vu” when being shown in VR an action taking place ar the same location where he was currently sitting. Some other person described that he liked “the scene with the spontaneous questions of the people and the warmth they conveyed”. This mention is particularly interesting taking into consideration that usually when talking about Communism, the newer generations tend to stigmatize its members; however, through means of a distance filter (a fictional character) they tend to experience less prejudice and inhibitions and perceive them as “closer”.

One of the main reasons for empathizing with the Communist introduction scene in which the character is dressed is the fact that it added a plus of subjectivity and authenticity to the experience. Some of the participants even called the introduction scene “interactive”. The suit itself played a role in the process.

Another participant identified himself with the character mostly when he was directly trained, and mentioned that “My favorite scene was when I was prepared for spying and I was presented with the book.”

He refers to a communist book that is used for the training of the robot.

Among the least favorite scenes: the introduction scene (3), the questions (3), the discovery scene (1). The scene with the questions was also criticised by one participant for being “too long for what it conveys visually”.

Overall, the scene with the questions and the introductory scene seemed to be the most successful, although at times c o n t r o v e r s i a l a s w e l l . D u r i n g t h e presentation itself, we have live streamed the reactions of the participants on the Facebook page of the project. While some of the participants were shy and only explored the experience, probably answering the questions in their minds, some others often reacted loudly, even before the questions scene. There were also participants who responded out loud to the questions, h o w e v e r w i t h o u t t a k i n g t i m e t o contemplate, but rather seemingly more in an informal game-driven convention. It led us to believe that the project may have a varying level of social consciousness and enterta inment consc iousness , a l so depending on the mood, the interest and the personality of the participants.

We have also received critiques such as: the fact that the party member did not have a Communist costume design, the fact that the 3D quality of the film was poor (Samsung Gear being unable to shoot 3D), the imperfect sound quality (we only had camera sound), the transition between scenes could have been smoother.

Another interesting fact is that much of the feedback we received was written in the first person (“when I” instead of “when the robot”). This leads us to believe that the p r o t o t y p e f u n c t i o n e d t o w a r d s interconnecting the participant and the character in an organic manner. It also made us infer that the hybrid storytelling, when mixed with a subjective point of view, becomes a stronger immersion tool.

The social media continuum

The site-specific experience has an online extension as the main character of the story world; the Communist robot continues to have a representation in the

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current virtual world, on Facebook and Instagram.

We have immediately launched a campaign: “What would you ask The AI Comrade? And how would you reply if you were in its shoes? Experience the VR journey and then continue the dystopia with the hashtag #askthecomrade.”

Currently the campaign is pending and our goal is to make it become viral.

As it is still a work-in-progress, on long-term it will only serve the purpose of research.

As a follow-up of the evolution of the project and the process behind it as analyzed retroactively, there are more aspects to highlight:

Inviting participants to be involved in the process of shooting/researching a hybrid storytelling project is undoubtedly increasing their engagement and the diversity and relevance of the project. The project grew visibly day by day, with everyone’s involvement, and for an “insider” the evolution was an experience in itself, not only the final project.

•The “weight” of the quest ions addressed by the participants became in a sense more powerful than the “weight” of the answer-driven narrative. Although quite gradually or even slowly, people started to take into consideration more the fact that there are times when the questions matter more than the answers.

•During the process of archiving and processing the questions addressed by the participants, we realised that it’s not only the individual questions that mattered, but also the way the questions completed each other, in the end, the way they reflected the collective memory of a community. Especially during the editing process, we have realised that changing the order of the questions may adjust the tone and the meaning of the work. Although initially we meant to arrange questions by difficulty (from the most informal to the most intricate), we then realised that it would be unjust to decide by ourselves their “hierarchy”. In the end, we have opted for conceiving only a gradual introduction and leave an open end.

•The question-asking sequence turned out to be bivalent: generating a shyness, incertitude and fear when being shot, but also a sense of humor, unpredictabi l i ty and interestingness when being exposed to it. Although we didn’t have the chance to

experience the shooting and the showcasing with the same “explorers” (homework for the upcoming research topic), we have encountered a complementary behavioural configuration.

•As long as there is transparency involved, the participants in general didn’t feel misled at any time. There were few exceptions - participants who have missed the verbal introduction and asked us “is this robot real?”. When asked, we answered by detailing the whole context.

•Although the project has a strong site-specific and ephemeral component (being a workshop-created project displayed within the workshop), we found a way to archive and continue the convention in the virtual world. The continuation itself may serve as a stand-alone undertaking, but is much more valid when complemented with the experience. In this way, the further debate generated by a hybrid storytelling project can be archived and followed on the long-term and can serve for further comparative studies.

There are also regrets or lessons to be learned for further projects and scientific research topics:

•Due to time and production limitations, we did not have access to more people that could have been engaged in the research and artistic process.

•For this specific project, we feel that only some of the scenes have a full 360 movement architecture. Due to production and time limitations, we could not fill the whole 360 space at all times. This would have increased spread immersion.

•We believe that launching the questions-chapter was a highly compelling form of research and participation; however, we felt that the participants “needed” a follow-up.

Conclusions Using hybrid storytelling as a form of

discovery and participative investigation, instead of using it as an axiomatic form with a self-sufficient narrative may lead to r e v e l a t o r y r e s u l t s , c i n e m a t i c a l l y , p h i l o s o p h i c a l l y , a x i o l o g i c a l l y , deontologically. The viewers are not “manipulated”, but rather challenged to question, to participate, to search. Moreover, if the project continues in a transmedial form on additional platforms,

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it can further make them curious to continue their journey.

Although hybrid storytelling in virtual reality is in its infancy worldwide, we have succeeded to create a meaningful no-budget prototype while designing “The AI Comrade”. It is, in fact, a hybrid form that invites the participants not only to visualize a narrative, but also to actively participate and take on a thought-provoking challenge that can be continued on additional platforms. As any other prototype, for now it only reveals partial methodology hints, while also leaving space for further future analysis.

H y b r i d s t o r y t e l l i n g c a n b u i l d constructive debates that a documentary alone or a fiction alone cannot. In our case, it was much more fruitful to talk about a controversial Era (communism) through a fictional character (a robot), but with direct input from nowadays Romanians. We feel that in general, sensitive matters benefit more from the input of the people not when exposed axiomatically, but while being transposed into a philosophical playground.

When a subjective point-of-view cinematic VR project tends to be continued with further transmedia extensions (in social media, in real l i fe) , hybrid storytelling can succeed to build a community.

By choosing a question-driven approach, the project became a wider investigation - not only of Romanian curiosity, but also of our human roots. Their questions are sometimes genuine, sometimes shocking, sometimes universal. Up to some extent, we feel that these hazard-driven questions reveal a more honest and humane perception of the Communist time and its transition to capitalism than history books would do axiomatically.

As we did not set up a standard for revealing the truth about Communism, but only a set of challenges, we felt that everyone was more eager to contribute.

The current prototype aims to highlight that hybrid storytelling can bring a constructive engaging participatory and meaningful experience, with a constructive impact on social, philosophical, axiological layers. But in the long-term there are still many challenges left. Can we also turn more shady hybrid storytelling forms such as “fake news” into something constructive? How can we actually analyze the outcome of a hybrid storytelling art form in general? In the absence of unity measures, we are left only with experimentation and debate, which may lead to more varied methodologies, to safer infrastructure and more open story worlds.

References

Frase, Peter, Four Futures ( 2016). Life After Capitalism. New York: Verso. Huizinga Johan (1949). Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play -Element in Culture. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. McGonigal, Jane (2011). Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Betterand How They Can Change the World. New York: Penguin Books.

Internet websites Svetvilas, Chuleenan, Hybrid Reality: When Documentary and Fiction Breed to Create a Better Truth, Documentary.org, http://www.documentary.org/feature/hybrid-reality-when-documentary-and-fiction-breed-create-better-truth, accessed on the 17th of July by Ioana Mischie Larson, Thomas, The Hybrid Narrative, http://www.thomaslarson.com/memoir-writing-lectures/210-hybrid-narrative.html, accessed on the 17th of July 2017 by Ioana Mischie McClusky, M. (2009) The Nike experiment: How the shoe giant unleashed the power of personal metrics. Wired. http://archive.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/17-07/lbnp_nike?currentPage=all (accessed 3 September 2014)

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http://www.documentary.org/feature/hybrid-reality-when-documentary-and-fiction-breed-create-better-truth



http://www.thomaslarson.com/memoir-writing-lectures/210-hybrid-narrative.html

http://www.thomaslarson.com/memoir-writing-lectures/210-hybrid-narrative.html

http://archive.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/17-07/lbnp_nike?currentPage=all

http://archive.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/17-07/lbnp_nike?currentPage=all

Is social documentary changing Romania?

Andreea ARCHIP MA, University of Bucharest 6

reporter TV, Digi 24 TV

Abstract In an era where social media made everyone feel like a journalist, actors of live broadcasting

online and holders of the channel of spreading information, quality content is more and more wanted. Therefore, this article is studying the way social documentary, the high-class product of filmmaking, is changing the world. What are the premises for the success? Although it sometimes competes with traditional media, most of the time the documentary is the main key of social change, managing to achieve the most difficult goal: changing mentalities.

Key words: social documentary, Romanian filmmaking, global muckraking, Roma population footage, filmmaking in disadvantaged areas

Introduction

Nowadays, Romanian cinemas are running the documentary Petrila Planet. Petrila is an old mining city from North-West Romania, a city struggling to survive after the collapse of the mining industry and the mine closing. But this is not the usual story about poverty and despair. The documentary tells the story of Ion Barbu, a well-known artist and activist living in Petrila and who becomes the hero of the day after he succeeds to save some historical buildings of the old mine from demolition. Through art!

He creates all kinds of events. He practically performs a symbolic funeral for the mining industry and he manages to get the entire town to join him and work with his ideas. During the three years while the film was shot, a big absence was represented by the mayor. And that makes the dilemma even greater. How come a single artist managed to save the buildings? Well, he wasn’t on his own. Even though the authorities were not supportive, Ion Barbu and his theatre festivals and exhibitions and art installations had breakthroughs because he created a community. He worked with locals and NGO’s, he got the press on his side. The

Andreea Archip is a journalist with 12 years’ experience in human rights, education and social studies. She 6

started her career in printed press, writing for Opinia Veche Magazine, Evenimentul zilei and Adevarul, leading quality newspapers in Romania. She continued with a career in TV in 2010 as a TV reporter for the Romanian National Television and now she is special reporter for one of the most important reportage and investigation shows “From inside” (”Din interior”) at Digi24 TV, one of the main news channels in Romania. She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Communication Sciences and at postgraduate level, a Master’s Degree in Multimedia Production.

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director of the documentary received his praise, Ion Barbu saved his buildings, and still the story is not over, as he needs to find funding for turning the buildings into museums and artistic spaces. Therefore, it’s an outgoing story. Hoping for a happy ending in the real life, not only in the cinema.

G l o b a l m u c k r a k i n g o r documentary?

I t h i n k t h a t n o w a d a y s , s o c i a l documentary can be compared with global muckraking, especially when it comes to results. An action with a certain amount of awareness can lead to visible results, but not all the time. According to Anya Schiffrin, the director of the Technology, Media and Communications specialization at Columbia University's School of I n t e r n a t i o n a l a n d P u b l i c A f f a i r s , “...journalism makes a difference when the time is right and society is ready to change, but let's not also forget the fact that global muckraking can play a huge role in making sure that the time is right for change”, according to her course Global Muckraking and Global Media. 7

We can distinguish an important role of the filmmaker, a mission pointed out also by Alan Rosenthal in his book, Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Videos: “At one time, I thought the duty of the concerned filmmaker was to try to bring about social change. Now, I am more inclined to see the involved filmmaker as one who bears witness. This “bearing of witness” has two elements. On a more modest level, it means that the filmmaker is interested in telling us a certain truth—not the absolute truth or the eternal message, but rather a very personal statement that says , “This f i lm ar ises out of my background, feelings, and integrity, and on the basis of what I show and how I show it, you can take it or leave it.” (p.43).

The footage that can change a law

Therefore, maybe it really was a good time for the Romanian society to realise that it needed to care more about historical industrial monuments. But this isn’t always the case. For example, the entire world read about Romanian protests in January 2017 against the Government pardon law which would benefit some corrupt officials. And one of the main news channel in Romania, DIGI24 TV, made a documentary about the event, following the story of the people who participated to the events coming from all o v e r t h e c o u n t r y , e v e n w h e n t h e temperatures in January and February in Romania reached almost -20 degrees . The 8

documentary represented an inside view of the events and kept a journal of each day of the protest. It was also aired during the protest and had a great feedback online as well. The people in the street, helped by social media and traditional media, got their first victory and the Government dropped the measure to pardon the corrupt politicians. They also asked for a new government and that didn’t happen, at least not following their protests.

These are big events and social documentary doubled by the journalistic work, will not delay their appearance. But as Anya Schiffrin points out, investigative reporting is “working hard to stoke global outrage and push government or companies t o c h a n g e w h a t t h e y w e r e d o i n g . Sometimes, the campaigns succeeded, sometimes they failed. Even when the journalists got what they wanted when their work led to some kind of change, there were occasionally unintended consequences.” 9

Therefore, when the press is not the beneficiary of the freedom of speech, social documentary can intervene. In Romania, press is regulated by the Audiovisual National Council and sometimes it is d i f f i c u l t t o c o v e r s t o r i e s a b o u t disadvantaged groups, especially if that includes children. The regulation says you are not allowed to show children in risk situation without their parents’ consent. And sometimes, caught up in the routine, the journalists choose the path most travelled.

https://www.edx.org/course/global-muckraking-investigative-columbiax-gm1x7

http://www.digi24.ro/stiri/actualitate/evenimente/documentar-digi24-romania-la-protest-povestea-celei-mai-8

ample-mobilizari-civice-671658

ibidem 1.9

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http://www.digi24.ro/stiri/actualitate/evenimente/documentar-digi24-romania-la-protest-povestea-celei-mai-ample-mobilizari-civice-671658



https://www.edx.org/course/global-muckraking-investigative-columbiax-gm1x

What do you do when the parents are in prison, like in the case of Toto and his sisters? Do you tell the story or not? Well, that’s when the documentarist can intervene and it did. “Toto and his sisters” is actually the name of Alexandru Nanau’s documentary. It says the story of three kids in the Bucharest slum, learning how to survive while their mother is in prison. Caught between poverty and drug abuse, the children learn very fast how to accept the camera in their everyday lives and act natural. The movie won over 30 prizes for best documentary in famous festivals in Zurich, Warsaw, Sarajevo, Munich and Leipzig. 10

Toto and his sisters are still living in the slum. How is their life different? Well, they are still in school and they are dancing and s i n g i n g a t a N G O c l u b i n t h e i r neighbourhood. They have faith that they can change their lives. But the documentary did so much more for the community. It changed mentalities. It’s not an immediate change, on spot, but people now go home from the cinema theater and they reflect upon the patterns that surrounded them for their entire life. Romania is a country where Roma discrimination is a fact. “Roma people are confronting still systematic discrimination, forced eviction and constant abuses against human rights. (...) In April 2016, special rapporteur for United Nations Organisation for combating e x t r e m e p o v e r t y a s k e d R o m a n i a n authorities to admit the acts of severe discrimination against Roma” , as Amnesty 11

International points out. Regarding the Roma populat ion

concerns, Romania did take some baby steps in raising awareness about the tough l i v e s t h e y h a v e a n d t h e c o n s t a n t discrimination. Empathy represents the big victory of a social justice documentary. Unfortunately, it rarely succeeds in finding an immediate solution for the characters of the documentaries.

Social documentary - mentality changer

A social problem in Romania is related to forced eviction of Roma population, especially in big cities. Michele Lancione is a researcher and activist who made a documentary about this problem called The rain started (A inceput ploaia). She 12

documented the story for two years, between 2014 and 2016: The film follows the story of the Vulturilor 50 community (100 individuals), who lived on the streets of Bucharest from September 2014 to June 2016 in order to fight against the eviction from their home, enacting the longest and most visible protest for housing rights in the history of contemporary Romania. The vicissitudes of this community are interpolated with a number of interviews with activists, scholars and politicians, composing a picture that speaks of racial discrimination, homelessness, evictions, but also of grassroots practices of resistance and social change. A început ploaia is the touching testament of every day’s revolution of Roma people fighting forced evictions from the centre of Bucharest, an endeavour made of fragile dwellings, provisional makeshifts and tenuous - but fierce - occupancy of public space. One of the women evicted started her own blog, an online journal about her life on the streets and after a while, in a homeless center at the periphery of Bucharest. She was empowered by her experience with the NGO’s protecting their rights and tried to make a difference to her community. In 2017, she plays a part in a play about the eviction situation in Romania. That’s a good thing for her professional and personal development, but it’s also a sign that the overhaul situation with eviction is far from being solved. This summer, 150 people, some of them the same people who were evicted from their homes in 2014, were troughed out from a center for homeless people. The officials claimed that the reason was the renovation of the place, but it was done without finding a housing solution for the beneficiaries. A sad story reoccurring from time to time.

So, did The rain started documentary change anything? It surely changed the

variety.com/2014/film/festivals/film-review-toto-and-his-sisters-1201334000/10

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2009/04/europe039s-roma-community-still-facing-massive-11

discrimination-20/

https://www.michelelancione.eu/documentaries/12

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views of the people watching it, their optic about the eviction phenomenon and their heart about the subject and the homeless people they see on the street. Nicoleta and their neighbours are still on the streets or without a home of their own.

Another important difference between t h e p o w e r o f t h e m e d i a a n d t h e documentary is credibility. While media is c h a s i n g r a t i n g s , c r e a t i n g s o a p -documentaries, trust going downhill with every political interest the viewers detect, the documentaries are known for their truthful approach of the subject. Elizabeth Cowie, in her “Recording reality, desiring the real” extracts this attitude of the public and the perception of the real-life filmmaking: “The documentary film is associated with seriousness and what is seen and heard is taken to be knowledge and its spectator is posited as a subject of knowledge to be received. Aligned with the controlling discourse of the titles or voice-over within the documentary film, or with documentary investigator who may appear directly in the film, we identify with the others by means of knowledge, acquiring a position of mastery, and are interpellated as m e m b e r s o f t h e c o m m u n i t y o f knowledge” (2011, p. 132.)

Therefore, when you are going to the cinema to watch a documentary, you know by default that you’re going to see a true story or a true perspective. So, if you see the same story on a news channel, you may

have a doubt about the intentions behind the story, while at the cinema you go to see the truth and experience a different view. The professor Bill Nichols from Wesleyan University says the documentary film is one of the "discourses of sobriety" that include science, economics, politics, and history-discourses that claim to describe the "real", to tell the truth (Godmilow, 2012, p.147).

And the social documentary also brings something else to the table. The structure. The television is a slave to the breaking news, to showing facts. “A documentary, a structured and motivated non-fiction film, does not aspire to convey in as pure a way as possible the real material at its core because this is what newsreel or other comparable forms of amateur, accidental and non-narrative film do”, points out Stella Bruzzi (2000, p.19).

Thus, is social documentary changing Romania? Definitely, but not instantly. Or maybe it already paved the way to the improvement of life of other children like “Toto and his sisters”, or offered ideas to people able to help Ion Barbu in transforming Petrila. Maybe it only showed a new perspective to persons who will ask for their rights when confronted with a situation. In fact, it takes years to change mentalities. But while bearing that in mind, social documentary can reach the place that it deserves in activism and human rights protection, in fighting discrimination and inequities.

References Rosenthal, Alan (2002). Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Videos”. Third Edition, Southern Illinois University Press Carbondale and Edwardsville. Cowie, Elizabeth (2011).Recording reality, desiring the real. University of Minnesota Press. Godmilow, Jill,( 2012). How real is the reality in documentary film? Wesleyan University &JSTOR Bruzzi, Stella (2000). New Documentary: A Critical Introduction. London: Routlege. Psychology Press

Internet websites

https://www.edx.org/course/global-muckraking-investigative-columbiax-gm1x http://www.digi24.ro/stiri/actualitate/evenimente/documentar-digi24-romania-la-protest-povestea-celei-mai-ample-mobilizari-civice-671658 variety.com/2014/film/festivals/film-review-toto-and-his-sisters-1201334000/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2009/04/europe039s-roma-community-still-facing-massive-discrimination-20/ https://www.michelelancione.eu/documentaries/

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https://www.edx.org/course/global-muckraking-investigative-columbiax-gm1x



http://variety.com/2014/film/festivals/film-review-toto-and-his-sisters-1201334000/

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2009/04/europe039s-roma-community-still-facing-massive-discrimination-20/

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2009/04/europe039s-roma-community-still-facing-massive-discrimination-20/

II. Cultural Studies

Culture, civilisation, art :

comment les médias de masse et le cinéma ont-ils (re)façonné ces concepts ?

Ioan POP-CURŞEU 13

Université Babeş-Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca

Abstract

It is obvious that mass-media and the artistic production realized by industrial means, at the beginning of modernity, radically changed the content of some major concepts of western thought, such as “civilization”, “culture”, “art”, “artist”, “ethics”. The present paper tries to underline some transformations of these concepts, to see the mechanisms of such transformations, to circumscribe the strategies of recuperation and recycling of archaic mentalities – put nowadays in new (mediatic) shapes. The characteristics of contemporary – trans-national, globalized – civilization will be described here, taking as a starting point the

Ioan Pop-Curşeu (b. 4.02.1978, Ocna-Mureş) is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Theatre and 13

Television, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca. He defended his first PhD dissertation at the University of Geneva in 2007 (De l’homme hyperbolique au texte impossible: théâtralité, theatre(s), ébauches de pièces chez Baudelaire), and the second at the Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca in 2011 (Magic and Witchcraft in Romanian Culture). In 2015, he defended his habilitation dissertation at Babeş-Bolyai University and in 2016 he became a member of Academia Europaea, section: Film, Media and Visual Studies. His research interests are concerned with film aesthetics, art criticism and image theory, nineteenth-century literature and culture, as well as anthropological aspects of magic and witchcraft. He is the author of several books: Nu ştie stânga ce face dreapta. Două eseuri despre şovăielile gândirii critice (2004), Baudelaire, la plural (2008), Vasile Bologa (1859-1944), studiu monografic (2010), Magie şi vrăjitorie în cultura română. Istorie, literatură, mentalităţi (2013), Manual de estetică (2014). He wrote dozens of articles on various themes, writers and films.

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preponderance – beginning with the first decades of the 19th century – of media in the transmission of cultural content (information, ideology, moral values, esthetical standards, ethical patterns). Because of that, an interrogation on the human being/humanity/humanism is necessary in this world where the planetary diffusion of media seems to create a hostile environment for such concepts. In this paper, the figure of the journalist will be analyzed in opposition to the artist’s (even if both of them have a strange relation with moral values), with an emphasis on their cinematographic avatars.

Keywords: civilization, culture, media, journalism, cinema.

Éclaircissements conceptuels

Le titre du présent article annonce déjà le champ d’investigation, ainsi que la question majeure à laquelle il faudrait tenter de donner une réponse, fût-elle partielle, indirecte, divagante. En effet, il est évident que l’émergence des médias de masse et de la production artistique « industrielle », à l’aube de la modernité, ont changé radicalement le contenu de concepts majeurs de la pensée occidentale, tels que « civilisation », « culture », « art », « artiste », « morale ». Ce que je me propose de faire, c’est de marquer une série de transformations subies par ces concepts, de voir quels en ont été les ressorts, de s o u l i g n e r q u e l q u e s s t r a t é g i e s d e récupération et de recyclage de mentalités archaïques – moulées cependant dans des formes nouvelles (médiatiques), etc. En dernier lieu, je ne me priverai pas de ramener le questionnement au vieux problème de l ’homme/ l ’humanité/l’humanisme, qui mérite qu’on s’y attarde un peu, d’autant plus que l’explosion médiatique des dernières décennies ne semble pas y être propice…

Avant d’entrer en profondeur dans la matière de cette étude, il faudrait tenter de clarifier brièvement la charge sémantique de deux concepts , « cul ture » et « civilisation », que le sens commun a tendance – et pas toujours à tort – de superposer dans le discours. Déjà l ’ é t y m o l o g i e p e u t f o u r n i r d e s éclaircissements suffisants, en ponctuant une spécialisation des termes qui s’est affermie, d’un côté, au cours de l’histoire, et qui, d’un autre côté, n’a pas manqué de se charger d’alluvions de sens imprévisibles. Ainsi, « civilisation » dérive des termes latins « civis, civilis », qui renvoie au fait d’être dans la cité, de s’intégrer dans des structures sociopolitiques déterminées, d’interagir de manière efficace avec ses

semblables. « Culture », au contraire, dérive du verbe latin « colere » = « cueillir, cultiver », qui s’est vite prêté à un emploi figuré. Cicéron opère un déplacement intéressant d’un mot qui appartenait plutôt au vocabulaire du travail de la terre (« agri-cultura ») vers les choses de l’esprit, en définissant la philosophie comme une « animi cultura », un travail à rendre fertile, profonde et riche l’âme humaine : ce déplacement ne laisse pas indifférents des philosophes tels que Francis Bacon (qui reprend l’expression cicéronienne), Kant ou Hegel. La charge spirituelle originaire, la présence de l’« animus » (pensée, âme, sentiments, cœur, esprit) dans le syntagme employé par Cicéron ont marqué de manière indélébile la destinée du terme « cul ture », repr is par une sér ie d ’ e t h n o l o g u e s , a n t h r o p o l o g u e s e t p h i l o s o p h e s d e l ’ h i s t o i r e , s u r t o u t anglophones ; il n’est que de citer les noms de Tylor, Franz Boas et tous ses disciples des écoles d’anthropologie culturelle aux EUA (Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead, et bien d’autres), B. Malinowski qui définissait la culture en tant que capacité de s’adapter au milieu naturel, et – en Europe – Frobenius ou Claude Lévi-Strauss. Dans les années 1950, le terme avait acquis une telle richesse de sens superposables seulement de manière partielle, que les chercheurs A. C. Kroeber et Clyde Kluckhohn pouvaient répertorier 164 définitions différentes (Kroeber & Kluckhohn, 1952).

Quant à la civilisation, au 18ème siècle, elle se voit de plus en plus opposée à la « barbarie », notamment par Mirabeau l’aîné, à la fois en ce qui concerne les mœurs, qu’en ce qui concerne les structures sociales et les moyens de développement dont dispose une société. L’opposition avec la « barbarie » contribue grandement à conférer au concept sa spécificité, vu par exemple que la « culture » ne suppose pas ce genre d’opposition valorisante. En effet,

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si l’on on s’accorde plus ou moins à reconnaître que les sociétés les plus « arriérées », dans le vocabulaire spécifique du 19ème siècle, sont capables de secréter une « culture » spécifique, parce qu’elles disposent d’un système cohérent de mythes, croyances et valeurs spirituelles, on est moins prêt à leur accorder la capacité de devenir « civilisées ». Ce raisonnement ne peut s’enorgueillir d’être totalement innocent : en son nom, les pires excès des colonisations se sont vus excuser au cours de l’histoire, puisque – n’est-ce pas ? – il fallait « civiliser » les barbares. Des p e n s e u r s n o m b r e u x , n o t a m m e n t germanophones, privilégient dans leurs ouvrages le concept de « civilisation » et il n’est que de citer ici quelques noms pour mesurer à peu de frais le prestige du vocable : Oswald Spengler, Sigmund Freud (Malaise dans la civilisation), Alfred Weber, Norbert Elias, A. Toynbee (A Study on History, 1934-1961), ou – plus près de nous, auréolé du vedettisme médiatique et du scandale provoqué par un ouvrage a u t r e m e n t i n t é r e s s a n t – S a m u e l Huntington : The Clash of Civilizations (Huntington, 2011). L’étendue du concept fait qu’on a pu parler de « civilisation des mœurs », « civilisation des loisirs », « civilisation du spectacle », « civilisation post-industrielle », aussi facilement que l’on parle de « civilisation européenne, chinoise », etc. Une idée, qui sous-tend ces différentes approches, semble résumer à merveille ce qu’est la civilisation et ce qui la différencie de la culture : chaque civilisation est avant tout « matérielle », quel que puisse être le degré de sa « spiritualité » ; elle se définit par la manière dont elle fabrique et utilise des instruments (« tools »).

Le livre-culte de Norbert Elias Über den Prozess der Zivilisation (1939, traduit tardivement en France: La Civilisation des mœurs et La Dynamique de l’Occident, les deux volumes ayant paru dans les années 60-70) retrace toute une histoire fascinante des différenciations conceptuelles entre « civilisation » et « culture », manifestées notamment dans le champ théorique allemand, qui se distingue en cela des champs théoriques français ou anglais. Elias souligne à maintes reprises que les Allemands privilégient la base matérielle du concept et le fait qu’il englobe des traits qu’il ne partage que très partiellement avec la « culture » :

Dans l’usage des Français et des Anglais, la notion de « civilisation » peut se r a p p o r t e r à d e s f a i t s p o l i t i q u e s , économiques, religieux, techniques, moraux et sociaux. La « culture » allemande désigne essentiellement des données intellectuelles, artistiques, religieuses ; elle tend à établir une ligne de partage assez nette entre celles-ci et les faits politiques, économiques ou sociaux. […]

La « civilisation » désigne un processus ou du moins l ’aboutissement d’un processus. Elle se rapporte à quelque chose de fluctuant, en « progression constante ». Le terme allemand « culture » dans son acception actuelle, se signale par une « direction » différente : il se rapporte à des produits de l’homme qui sont là « comme les fleurs des champs », aux œuvres d’art, aux livres, aux systèmes religieux ou p h i l o s o p h i q u e s r é v é l a t e u r s d e s particularités d’un peuple. […]

La notion de civilisation efface jusqu’à un certain point les différences entre les peuples ; elle met l’accent sur ce qui, dans la sensibilité de ceux qui s’en servent, est commun à tous les hommes ou du moins devrait l’être. (Elias, 1973: 12-13)

Selon les approches allemandes, la science et la technologie tiendraient une place prédominante dans le concept de civilisation, ce qui rend un peu caduque la superposition conceptuelle entre les deux termes que Tylor opérait dans la seconde moitié du 19ème siècle : « Culture or civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. » (Tylor, 1920: 1).

Dans cette perspective binaire, les médias de masse et leur développement rapide à partir du milieu du 19ème siècle relèvent de manière évidente du domaine de la « civilisation » ; elles définissent une superstructure planétaire, transnationale, a-géographique, à laquelle on a donné des noms à la fois vagues et effrayants : « globalisation », « mondialisation ». La vie d’un humain d’aujourd’hui est en effet difficilement imaginable sans téléphone portable intelligent, avec une multitude d’applications, ordinateur connecté à Internet, skype, radio dans la voiture, télévision par satellite (HD, 3D, télévision

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnographic

intelligente, etc.), MP3 player, scanner, caméras numériques, systèmes GPS, tous signes d’une civilisation que certains penseurs marxistes voient comme le stade ultime du capitalisme. La question fondamentale qui se pose serait quel rapport ces médias entretiennent avec la « culture », entendue dans le sens restreint de corpus de valeurs spirituelles (idéologies, croyances, valeurs morales et esthétiques, etc.), quelles sont les ressemblances et les différences entre l’artiste (homme accompli du passé) et le journaliste (homme accompli d’un aujourd’hui qui est déjà demain) ? Dans quelle mesure est-ce les médias parviennent à véhiculer une ou plusieurs « cultures » – locales ou nationales, à construire des identités, à conforter l’homme dans le sentiment de sa propre humanité (Homo sum…, What a piece of work is man…, etc.) ? De plus, on pourrait se demander quelle est la place que tient l’art cinématographique dans ces chocs et transformations profondes du monde moderne et postmoderne. C’est à ce genre de questions que je m’efforcerai d’esquisser des réponses plurielles et un peu divagantes dans le présent article.

Civilisation archaïque/ civilisation des médias

Mais, avant ces réponses, un parallèle entre les sociétés traditionnelles et les sociétés modernes, entre les groupes qui ne produisent que de petites formes culturelles et les grandes masses portées dans le mainstream de la civilisation des médias, semble s’imposer de soi. Il est évident que, dans l ’optique que je me propose d’embrasser, chaque groupe humain qui se reconnaît comme tel, en se fondant sur des solidarités partagées, a une culture qui lui est propre (quoique les formes culturelles puissent aussi varier, circuler, s’emprunter et mourir), tout en ne secrétant pas de formes spécifiques de civilisation. Le néolithique est à la fois une époque historique déterminable, ainsi qu’une forme de civilisation fondée sur la pierre taillée : or, à l’intérieur de cette époque et partout où l’on employait la pierre taillée, il est aisé de découvrir une multitude de cultures et de sous-cultures différentes. De même, aujourd’hui, on peut légitimement postuler l’existence d’une civilisation européenne, opposée à l ’asiatique (et ici, selon Huntington, la religion joue un rôle déterminant dans la constitution des

spécif icités assumées), mais i l est improbable qu’une civilisation française ou roumaine existent. À regarder dans l’histoire, on découvre aisément que le rythme de l’évolution des civilisations s’accélère dans une suite ininterrompue, ainsi que les échanges des outils techniques et des formes de domination du milieu naturel : cela sans tomber dans le mythe romantique du progrès continu et indéfini, auquel croyaient les socialistes utopiques ou Victor Hugo.

D a n s l e s c i v i l i s a t i o n s « traditionnelles » (que l’on nomme ainsi faute d’un meilleur mot), dans les petites cultures, on vit au rythme des saisons et de la nature, on ne se dépêche pas, on croit aux vertus et valences d’une pensée magique, on privilégie le religieux et le poétique par rapport au technique, on recourt très peu à l’écriture mais on se place souvent au cœur même du symbolique, on accompagne la transmission des biens et des connaissances par tout un ensemble de rites et de mythes, etc. L’accumulation du capital n’y tient aucune place, l’exploitation – quand elle n’est pas inconnue – est recouverte par une justification mythologique, la manipulation apparaît rarement, et le pouvoir ne se fonde presque jamais sur la pure force brute, dépourvue de toute trace de sacralité.

L’anthropologue ou le simple curieux peut voir avec une netteté surprenante ces traits, par exemple dans les documentaires classiques de Robert Flaherty, Nanook of the North, ou dans ceux que Jean Rouch a réalisés en Afrique noire dans les années 1950-1960, notamment Les Maîtres fous ou La Chasse au lion, à l’arc (1965). Ce dernier film montre à quel point l’acte de chasser est imprégné de valeurs magiques, depuis la préparation des instruments et du poison, en passant par le traitement rituel de la flèche et par les incantations que les chasseurs Gao prononcent devant le corps de la lionne touchée. Dans les termes de l’opposition que je me suis proposé de faire mienne (civilisation / culture), il est évident que l’arc représente un élément relevant de la civilisation, transmis à plusieurs groupes humains différents par les structures sociales, la langue, les habitudes religieuses, mais qui l’emploient dans des buts similaires (chasse, guerre). Par contre, le tissu de significations que chaque groupe humain brode autour de l’arc diffère parfois de manière flagrante dans la même aire géographique ou à la même époque

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historique, ainsi que les techniques de maniement et les histoires brodées autour de cet outil de civilisation : c’est ainsi que la culture entre en jeu et donne un sens profondément spirituel aux éléments de « progrès » matériel…

En revenant dans la plus stricte contemporanéité, à ce que je nommais plus haut la « civilisation des médias », il faut dire que quelques penseurs ont bien saisi l e s t r a i t s f o n d a m e n t a u x q u i l’individualisent par rapport à d’autres types de civilisation. Walter Benjamin (Benjamin 1971, 2015), Jean Baudrillard 14

et Roland Barthes (Barthes, 1957), Guy Debord et Régis Debray (Debray, 2007), Pierre Bourdieu et Marshall McLuhan ( M c L u h a n , 2 0 1 7 ) , o u b i e n G i l l e s Lipovetsky fournissent d’éclatants 15

exemples de compréhension en profondeur de ce type de « civilisation ». Selon ces auteurs, dont les intuitions se recoupent bien souvent, la civilisation des médias serait caractérisée par l’obsession de la consommation et l’omniprésence de la publicité, la rapidité de circulation de l’information, l’immédiateté, la virtualité, le triomphe du kitsch et de l’inauthentique, le pullulement des gadgets, la manipulation, les structures d’images, le culte de l’éphémère, mais surtout par l’hypertrophie des moyens de communication de masse, qui règlent le comportement des individus et les interactions sociales. On vit les nouvelles en temps réel, on est connectés 24 heures sur 24 avec des gens de tous les univers culturels, on réduit les barrières que l’espace et le temps dressent entre les êtres humains. Tout se trouve à la distance du simple click sur la souris de l’ordinateur, depuis les produits à acheter en ligne jusqu’aux livres se trouvant dans les grandes bibliothèques, ou bien depuis les plaisirs les plus « secrets » offerts par les sites pornos jusqu’aux conseils religieux et spirituels les plus farfelus (c’est d’ailleurs de cette manière que les musulmans radicaux font passer leurs messages de haine et

recrutent des volontaires pour aller combattre en Syrie et en Irak dans les armées de l’État Islamique). On peut tout faire en ligne : vivre, s’amuser, travailler ou produire des révolutions – qui finissent bien souvent assez mal, vu le contexte socioreligieux dans lequel el les se produisent (comme les cas de la Tunisie, de l’Égypte, de la Libye et surtout de la Syrie l’ont montré ces dernières années). De plus, les frontières entre les professionnels de l’information et de la culture se sont réduits par la pratique de l’User generated content, qui envahit le web, depuis les encyclopédies du genre Wikipedia, en passant par Facebook ou bien par les chaînes vidéo de Youtube…

Le journaliste, expression de la civilisation moderne

Si la culture européenne traditionnelle, celle qui s’est développée jusqu’au 18ème siècle, avant que l’industrialisation ne saisisse tout le continent, a fait de l’artiste un type humain achevé (peut-être le plus beau, le plus complet, quoique situé parfois dans un rapport problématique avec la mora le) , avec la mass i f i cat ion de l’information et l’invention de la grande presse, avec l’alphabétisation grandissante des couches sociales populaires, un nouveau type humain est entré en scène dans la première moitié du 19ème siècle, en usurpant en quelque sorte la place symbolique du premier : le journaliste. Le journaliste, à savoir celui qui fait un métier de la circulation de plus en plus rapide de l’information, et quoique les limites de cette profess ion ne soient pas toujours clairement définies (Grévisse, 2010: 45-59).

Produit « culturel » de la « civilisation » des médias, le journaliste a du mal à être intégré dans les catégories habituelles de la pensée. C ’est un être étrange, un mercenaire de l’esprit qui achète et revend des événements, c’est un combattant qui se situe toujours dans l’arène au cœur de la bataille pour le pouvoir. Balzac est un des

Cf. Jean Baudrillard, La Société de consommation, Paris, Gallimard, 1974, notamment « La culture mass-14

médiatique », pp. 147-199 : « La culture n’est plus produite pour durer. Elle se maintient bien sûr comme instance universelle, comme référence idéale, et ce d’autant plus qu’elle perd sa substance de sens (de même que la Nature n’est jamais si exaltée que depuis qu’elle est partout détruite), mais, dans sa réalité, de par son mode de production, elle est soumise à la même vocation d’°“actualitéˮ que les biens matériels. » (pp. 151-152).

Voir, de Gilles Lipovetsky, L’Empire de l’éphémère, Paris, Gallimard, 1987, notamment « Culture à la mode 15

média », pp. 242-281. Un autre ouvrage de Lipovetsky, publié en collaboration avec Jean Serroy, serait à consulter à ce sujet : L’Écran global. Culture-médias et cinéma à l’âge hypermoderne, Paris, Seuil, 2007.

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premiers à dresser un portrait sans concessions du journaliste dans Illusions perdues (1837-1843). Lucien de Rubempré, entré dans l’atmosphère saine du Cénacle, groupe de jeunes gens qui privilégie le travail, la méditation et la recherche du vrai, du beau, du bien, se montre de plus en plus séduit par le journalisme, dans lequel il veut se « jeter ». Les autres membres du C é n a c l e l u i d é c r i v e n t l a c a r r i è r e journalistique sous des couleurs bien noires, qui cependant ne semblent pas très loin d’une vérité intemporelle (puisqu’on peut la retrouver aussi dans quelques films, dont i l sera quest ion p lus bas) : « opposition de plaisir et de travail qui se trouve dans la vie des journalistes », quête du « pouvoir » qui donne « droit de vie et de mort sur les œuvres de la pensée », « enfer, abîme d’iniquités, de mensonges, de trahisons »… Le journaliste a quand même deux « qualités » que Fulgence reconnaît : « le brillant et la soudaineté de pensée », ce qui l’aide à être un « spadassin d e s i d é e s e t d e s r é p u t a t i o n s industrielles » (Balzac, 1960: 252-274). L’adjectif « industrielles » collé aux « réputations » est, il faut bien le reconnaître, un coup de génie (linguistique) de Balzac !

Cependant, en général, le journaliste se débat sous la férule d’un directeur de journal, qui est souvent aussi usurier, exploiteur sans scrupules de la conscience des autres. La guerre pour les abonnements et pour l’impact gomme toute dimension humaine de la pratique journalistique, ainsi qu’elle sert souvent à transformer la « vérité » en « mensonge ». Lucien de Rubempré se perd dans le journalisme, il y abîme son talent littéraire et ses belles dispositions, ses qualités d’âme et de jugement et – à regarder attentivement les faits historiques – on peut dire que ce fut là le sort de bien des écrivains du 19ème siècle, tous plus ou moins esclaves de la grande presse, Balzac lui-même, Th. Gautier, Baudelaire, pour ne citer que les plus grands.

Chez Balzac, dans Illusions perdues, il est étonnant de voir une anticipation des réflexions des philosophes modernes sur la « civilisation », entendue dans sa dimension matérielle. Le fragment mérite

d’être cité in extenso, car il montre le penchant du romancier pour le détail exact, ainsi que sa profonde compréhension de la manière dont les inventions technologiques et la concurrence acerbe pour les parts de marché ont changé le fonctionnement même de la pensée :

On ne force pas la production du chiffon. Le chiffon est le résultat de l’usage du linge et la population d’un pays n’en donne qu’une quantité déterminée. Cette quantité n e p e u t s ’ a c c r o î t r e q u e p a r u n e a u g m e n t a t i o n d a n s l e c h i f f r e d e s naissances. Pour opérer un changement sensible dans sa population, un pays veut un quart de siècle et de grandes révolutions dans les mœurs, dans le commerce ou dans l’agriculture. Si donc, les besoins de la papeterie devenaient supérieurs à ce que la France produisait de chiffon, soit du double soit du triple, il fallait, pour maintenir le papier à bas prix, introduire dans la fabrication du papier un élément autre que le chiffon. Ce raisonnement reposait d’ailleurs sur les faits. Les papeteries d ’A n g o u l ê m e , l e s d e rn i è re s o ù s e fabriquèrent des papiers avec du chiffon de fil, voyaient le coton envahissant la pâte dans une progression effrayante. En même temps que lord Stanhope inventait la presse en fer et qu’on parlait des presses mécaniques de l’Amérique, la mécanique à fa i re le papier de toute longueur commençait à fonctionner en Angleterre. Ainsi les moyens s’adaptaient aux besoins de la civilisation française actuelle, qui repose sur la discussion étendue à tout et sur une perpétuelle manifestation de la pensée individuelle, un vrai malheur, car les peuples qui délibèrent agissent très peu. Chose étrange ! pendant que Lucien entrait dans les rouages de l’immense machine du journalisme, au risque d’y laisser son honneur et son intelligence en lambeaux, David Séchard, du fond de son imprimerie, embrassait le mouvement de la Presse pér iodique dans ses conséquences matérielles. (Balzac 2 : 926-928 ) 16

On retrouve la vision balzacienne du journalisme, dans une version moins pessimiste, dans le roman de Guy de Maupassant, Bel-Ami, publié en 1885. Georges Duroy, qui au début du roman est

Cette citation provient de l’édition électronique, car elle présente des différences par rapport à l’édition 16

Roland Chollet (texte plus ample, plus nuancé et plus adéquat pour l’argument).

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un simple jeune homme sans fortune et sans perspectives d’avenir, fait une brillante carrière dans le journalisme, mais en se servant des moyens les plus bas et très discutables du point de vue moral : plagiat, chantage, menace et – surtout – emploi des femmes qui se trouvent sur son passage dans le but de parvenir aux sommets de la société parisienne. Ce n’est pas un hasard, il me semble, que Bel-Ami est un mets de choix pour les cinéastes : le roman figure parmi les textes du 19ème siècle les plus adaptés au cinéma et à la télévision. Il y a plusieurs raisons à cela : on se trouve en présence du roman le plus réussi de Maupassant et d’un texte qui reste très actuel dans ses considérations sur la politique, la société et la morale. C’est un roman dont la charge érotique passe très bien à l ’écran, surtout qu’el le est accompagnée par de très intelligentes considérations sur les rapports amoureux et sociaux de la femme et de l’homme. De plus, l’écriture du romancier, précise et cinglante, la force vive des dialogues, l’efficacité des descriptions ont séduit les cinéastes par leur dimension proprement cinématographique. À diverses époques et dans de nombreux pays, on a proposé au public des cinémas une quinzaine de versions de la vie du journaliste séducteur de femmes Georges Duroy, surnommé Bel-Ami, dont celles de Willi Forst (1939), Albert Lewin (1947), Philippe Triboit (2005), Declan Donnellan et Nick Ormerod (2012) figurent parmi les plus intéressantes.

L a c r i t i q u e m o r a l i s a n t e e t l a diabolisation du journalisme a fait une longue carrière au cœur même de la modernité européenne, qu’elle a contribué à définir entre bien d’autres caractéristiques. Les traits d’esprit relatifs au sujet ne manquent pas… Bernard Shaw ne définissait-il pas le journal comme une « institution incapable de faire une différence entre un accident de bicyclette et l’effondrement de la civilisation » ? Ou bien Thomas Jefferson ne soutenait-il pas que « les petites annonces contiennent toute la vérité que l’on peut trouver dans un journal » ? Il n’est pas rare que ce genre de traits d’esprit prenne la forme d’une boutade sinistre, destinée à souligner que dans le monde du journalisme il n’y a plus aucun repère moral qui fonctionne, que

tout y peut être vendu et acheté, même les consciences : « Pourquoi acheter un journal q u a n d o n p e u t a c h e t e r u n journaliste ? » (Bernard Tapie) . 17

Figures de journalistes au cinéma C’est ici que la question du cinéma

intervient, pour éclaircir un peu les choses e t p o u r o u v r i r d i v e r s e s p i s t e s d’interprétation. Comment le septième art, le seul art industriel et areligieux (Fondane, 2007) a-t-il abordé le problème du journalisme ? Les deux formes de culture (ou de civilisation) ont-elles marché dans la même direction, vers les mêmes buts ? Le cinéma a-t-il assumé une tradition de critique du journalisme – déjà solide dans la littérature – ou bien a-t-il compris que le journaliste se nourrissait de la même massification de la culture et de la pensée, de la même transformation des pratiques de consommation de l’information et des biens « spirituels » ?

À l’instar de Lucien de Rubempré, de B e l - A m i e t d e q u e l q u e s a u t r e s p r é d é c e s s e u r s , M a r c e l l o R u b i n i , protagoniste de La Dolce vita de Fellini (1960), est un « artiste » qui gâche sa vocation créatrice en écrivant des articles mondains sur les vedettes du cinéma, l’aristocratie romaine ou les événements extraordinaires. À ce propos, il ment à son ami, l’écrivain Steiner, en lui disant que son livre est en phase de « documentation », ou mieux, déjà fini et en phase de fignolage. Au fait, c’est un livre qui n’existe pas, une aspiration de Marcello à faire autre chose, quelque chose de supérieur, qui le sorte du b o u r b i e r d e s a v i e q u o t i d i e n n e . Accompagné toujours par le photographe Paparazzo (dont le nom, transformé en substantif commun, a fait la carrière que l’on sait), Marcello s’attaque aux vies intimes des gens, devient espion, enquête sans pudeur et – aux dires de sa fiancée Emma (Annie Furneaux) – perd toute trace d’humanité. Quelques scènes illustratives pour le statut du journaliste et pour les vilenies qu’il doit commettre afin de survivre se trouvent au tout début du film, après – dans les scènes avec l’actrice hollywoodienne d’origine suédoise Sylvia (Anita Ekberg), ensuite dans l’histoire des deux enfants qui ont vu la Madone, ou bien lors du suicide de Steiner. Marcello,

Les trois citations, dans Benoît Grévisse, op. cit., p. 18.17

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toujours sur le fil du rasoir, devient victime, de persécuteur qu’il était. Amoureux sans espoir de Sylvia, il erre avec elle dans la torride nuit romaine, puis la ramène à l’hôtel, ou des photographes les attendent, qui réveillent le compagnon de Sylvia, endormi à une table suite à l’excès d’alcool. Ceci provoque une scène, Sylvia est giflée et envoyée dans sa chambre, Marcello reçoit quelques coups de poing et s’affaisse par terre, tandis que ses collègues cherchent le meilleur angle pour le photographier et lui demandent même de prendre la pose. Dans un autre cas, suite au suicide de Steiner, son seul ami, Marcello s’efforce d’éloigner la cohorte des photographes de la femme du mort, qui revient du marché en ignorant qu’elle est veuve et que son mari n’a pas hésité à tirer des coups de feu sur leurs enfants. Les journalistes donc, dans l’optique de Fellini, sacrifient tout au scoop, au sensationnel, ils fabriquent les nouvelles et les sens à donner à celles-ci, ils exploitent la douleur, l’amour, la tristesse dans des buts commerciaux, et leur course provoque souvent des situations grotesques, très spécifiques de l’esthétique du réalisateur italien.

Dans Network, de Sidney Lumet (1976), le problème central est celui du rôle de la télévision dans la vie des sociétés modernes ou postmodernes. Loin de lui accorder une quelconque valeur culturelle ou spirituelle, le réalisateur – à travers la voix du protagoniste, Howard Beale (Peter Finch) – s’applique à en produire la critique la plus acerbe jamais formulée. À la différence de la critique de Pierre Bourdieu (Bourdieu, 1996), Lumet ne va pas dans la nuance ; il est violent et virulent, polémique, radical, sans pitié. C’est surtout un discours de Howard Beale au cours d’un show qui est mémorable : la télé pervertit, elle forme des c o m p o r t e m e n t s f a u x ( c u l i n a i r e s , vestimentaires, intellectuels), elle isole et empêche les gens de passer à l’action sur le plan civique et politique. La télé fait baisser l a c o n s o m m a t i o n d e l a p r e s s e « classique » (moins de 15% de ceux qui regardent la télé lisent aussi les journaux) et le désir de lecture (moins de 3% des téléspectateurs s’intéressent encore aux livres), qui est – lui – le gage ultime de l’accès au savoir et de l’ouverture vers le monde. Évangile moderne, la télé est un formidable instrument de pouvoir (« the most awesome goddam propaganda force »), qui tombe souvent entre les mains

des mauvaises personnes. Et, surtout, la télé ne doit pas avoir la prétention de transmettre la « vérité », car ses nouvelles sont fabriquées, sa vision du monde est dictée par une logique économique et corporatiste, et son impératif majeur est de distraire, non pas d’informer ou de culturaliser. C’est pourquoi la télévision est définie comme un « amusement park », un « cirque », un « carnaval », une usine à « illusions », où il ne reste plus de place pour le sérieux de la vie. Les spectateurs sont donc conseillés par Beale de chercher la vérité ailleurs, chez leurs gourous, chez leurs dieux, mais surtout en eux-mêmes, car c’est seulement en soi que chacun peut trouver les réponses susceptibles de l’aider à bien mener sa vie. Dans cet univers, la question morale – si l’on songe à la fois à la morale en tant que construction culturelle et en tant que moralité de chaque être humain, de chaque journaliste, en particulier – apparaît complètement diluée et insignifiante. Cela est illustré par le cas de Diane (Faye Dunaway), qui s’occupe de la diffusion du Howard Beale Show et qui perd tout sentiment humain au profit de la construction fantasmatique qu’elle a édifiée. Cette femme ne songe qu’au rating et perd même sa nature féminine (supposée être faite de bonté, amour, compréhension, sentiments maternels) au profit des calculs froids que lui impose son travail parmi les requins de la télévision.

Un autre film sur la civilisation de la télévision, mais celle de l’avenir (ou du présent !), The Truman Show (1998) de Peter Weir, plonge les spectateurs dans un univers à la fois oppressif et fascinant. C’est l’histoire de Truman Burbank (nom ô combien significatif !), acheté par une corporation depuis qu’il était bébé et transformé en objet à spectacle, sans qu’il se doute de rien. Toute sa vie se déroule sous l’œil des caméras, étant retransmise dans des milliers de foyers, où l’on se repaît des « aventures » du héros, bien mises au point à l’avance. Pour lui, tout est programmé par un maître, Christoph, d i s s i m u l é d e r r i è r e u n t a b l e a u d e c o m m a n d e , à c ô t é d ’ u n e é q u i p e nombreuse : amitié, amour, travail, etc. Toute tentative d’évasion est soigneusement contrecarrée, car il importe que Truman ne sache pas qu’il y a un autre monde à l’extérieur de celui où le retiennent ses peurs, elles aussi bien pensées par ceux qui dirigent sa vie : ils associent la libération, le

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départ, à des stimuli essentiellement négatifs. The Truman Show représente même une vitrine publicitaire très rentable : tout ce que l’on voit sur l’écran est à vendre, depuis les bières agitées par l’ami du protagoniste, jusqu’aux produits de cuisine que sa femme présente avec un sourire béat. Avec cela, la prétention des créateurs du show est que rien de ce qu’ils présentent au public n’est « faux », que tout est authentique, vivant, réel, et que présenter une vie sans fard au public répond au but le plus profond de la télévision. Et pourtant, la nature profonde de la réalité habitée par Truman se dévoile vers la fin, lors d’une tentative d’évasion quasi-réussie : c’est une réalité créée en studio, avec des décors en stuc, une mer en miniature, un ciel factice et des vents produits par ordinateur. Comme dans la pièce de Pedro Calderón de la Barca, La Vie est un songe, c’est la nature même du monde réel qui est mise en question: la substance des rêves s’infiltre dans la réalité, tandis que les fictions les plus folles deviennent réelles grâce, ici, aux art i f ices que permet la télévision. Christoph, le créateur du Truman Show, incarne le journaliste sans scrupules, capable des pires calculs et bassesses afin de conquérir l’audience, quoiqu’un bizarre sentiment de paternité l’unisse à sa créature. Au moment où le héros est sur le point de sortir du studio, dans un cadre qui rappelle les toiles de René Magritte, Christoph l’interpelle avec une certaine tendresse, en lui enjoignant de rester dans la réalité créée pour lui, afin d’apporter – par son exemple – le la « joie » pour les milliers de téléspectateurs qui le regardent. Pourtant, malgré cela, Truman fait le bon choix : il sort vers la vie réelle, à la recherche de la femme qu’il aime (et qu’on lui a toujours interdit de croiser en studio), il abandonne la fiction pour la vérité et se décide à devenir un être humain à part entière.

Le thème du statut du journaliste et de sa moralité semble être central chez Weir, car il s’y attaque aussi dans The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), avec Mel Gibson (Guy Hamilton) et Sigourney Weaver. Gibson joue le rôle d’un reporter radio australien, envoyé en Indonésie du temps où les communistes essayaient de prendre le pouvoir des mains du général Sukarno, en concurrence avec les islamistes. Guidé par Billy Kwan (Linda Hunt), un nain mystérieux et bossu, perdu

dans un monde dont il a du mal à comprendre les repères, Guy Hamilton se trouve confronté à l’essence de sa pratique journalistique : la morale. D’épineuses questions lui sont adressées, directement ou indirectement, en face de la souffrance humaine qu’il a l’occasion de voir. Qu’est-ce qu’un journaliste doit faire ? Doit-il s’impliquer directement, essayer de soulager cette souffrance-là sur le champ, ou bien doit-il se contenter de la refléter dans ses articles, afin qu’elle soit mieux connue ? Le journaliste a-t-il un cœur et, si oui, quand faut-il le laisser parler ? Est-il nécessaire que le journaliste se montre sensible ou plutôt qu’il rende compte froidement et objectivement de ce qu’il voit ? Le personnage aura le loisir de découvrir des réponses à ces questions car chaque être humain qu’il croise lui tend des miroirs qui ne sont pas rarement trompeurs. Billy, dans une discussion privée, attaque même la structure manichéiste de l’éthique européenne, pour laquelle tout doit être bon ou mauvais, alors que l’Orient propose des solutions plus nuancées. En écho à cela, Billy montre à Guy un petit théâtre d’ombres, destiné à lui f a i r e c o n n a î t r e u n e a u t r e v i s i o n philosophique, celle de l’Orient, fondée sur des essences éthiques plus fluides.

Le grief principal lancé à l’encontre des journalistes, par la modernité même qui leur a donné naissance, à travers la littérature et le cinéma, est donc leur manque de moralité, leur incapacité la plus totale à se soumettre à des impératifs m o r a u x , p a r r a p p o r t a u x q u e l s i l s privilégient les impératifs économiques ou politiques. Même ceux qui ne travaillent pas sous la férule de patrons, qui leur imposeraient la direction à prendre, se laissent corrompre par les formidables outils de pouvoir (politique et militaire, économique et symbolique) que le journalisme met à leur disposition. Ainsi, Charles Foster Kane, protagoniste d’un des plus grands films de l’histoire (1941). Orson Welles nous le montre, jeune journaliste qui vient d’assumer la direction d’un quotidien, en train de rédiger une Declaration of principles, censée déterminer tous les choix é t i q u e s d u p e r s o n n a g e , i n s é r é e pompeusement en première page et dûment signée. La voici, en transcription: « I. I’ll provide the people of this city with a daily paper that will tell all the news honestly. II. I will also provide them with a

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fighting and tireless champion of their rights as citizens and as human beings. » Or quelle est la réalité ? Kane a mordu au fruit empoisonné : il s’est rendu compte que le journalisme lui offrait une possibilité extrêmement efficace de contrôler les pensées et les réactions des hommes, de former leurs goûts et leurs opinions. Il veut, dans cet esprit, imposer sa deuxième épouse, Susan Alexander Kane, en tant que grande diva, il fabrique de toutes pièces une guerre entre les ÉUA et l’Espagne, et ne recule pas devant le maquillage de l’information (« if the headline is big enough, it makes the news big enough »). Kane s’intéresse au fait divers mineur (qui rentrerait aujourd’hui dans la sphère de la presse à scandale) et il va même jusqu’à exhorter ses reporters à recourir au chantage afin d’extorquer l’information aux personnes visées. Le code déontologique ne résiste donc pas à l’épreuve de la réalité ; la theoria s’affaisse devant les séductions de la praxis.

Brèves conclusions Que dire, en guise de conclusion, à la fin

de ce parcours un peu tortueux, entrepris dans le présent article ? Au fond, le journaliste n’est pas plus immoral que l’artiste, si on les juge à l’aune du rigorisme k a n t i e n . M a i s l ’ a r t i s t e é l u d e l e s commandements de la morale afin de fonder une morale nouvelle, plus élevée, une morale de l’avenir, qui se propose de

donner un nouveau contenu aux concepts de base de l’éthique, bien / mal (voir les cas de Baudelaire et Nietzsche), alors que le journaliste contourne la morale au nom de l’audience, du profit ou du pouvoir politique. L’artiste reste le principal pourvoyeur de valeurs spirituelles, donc de culture (donc aussi d’éthique), alors que le journaliste n’est qu’une excroissance, brillante parfois, de la civilisation de médias, qui produit et diffuse incidemment de la culture, mais qui a plus à voir avec les champs de l’économique et du politique. Pourtant, malgré l’image négative des journalistes et des fabricants de nouvelles (construite sur la longue ligne temporelle Balzac-Fellini, avec une accentuation à la fin du 19ème siècle), malgré l’aliénation absolue de l’être humain dans une société gouvernée par le capitalisme médiatique (comme des penseurs comme W. Benjamin, R. Barthes, J. Baudrillard l’ont montré), les médias restent le principal emblème de la civilisation (et peut-être de la culture) contemporaine. Pourrait-on y voir aussi une chance ? Est-ce complètement fou de penser que la civilisation des médias puisse permettre l ’émergence d’un nouvel humanisme, fondé sur de nouvelles dynamiques culturelles ? L’« homme typographique » de Marshall McLuhan serait-il en passe de céder sa place – pour d e l o n g u e s a n n é e s – à l ’ h o m m e -imag(i)e(r) ?

Références Balzac, Honoré de, (1960). La Comédie humaine, vol. XVII-XVIII, Illusions perdues. Préface et notes de Roland Cholet. Lausanne : Éditions Rencontre. Barthes, Rolland, (1957). Mythologies. Paris : Seuil. Baudrillard, Jean, (1974). La Société de consommation. Paris : Gallimard. Benjamin, Walter, (1971). L’œuvre d’art à l’ère de sa reproductibilité technique, Œuvres II. Poésie et révolution. Traduit de l’allemand et préfacé par Maurice de Gandillac. Paris : Denoël. Benjamin, Walter, (2015). Opera de artă în epoca reproductibilităţii sale tehnice. Édition critique de Burkhardt Linder, en collaboration avec Simon Broll et Jessica Nitsche, Trad. de l’allemand en roumain Christian Ferencz-Flatz. Cluj-Napoca : Tact. Bourdieu, Pierre, (1996). Sur la télévision. Paris : Liber. Debray, Régis, (2007). Un mythe contemporain : le dialogue des civilisations. Paris : Éditions du CNRS. Elias, Norbert, (1973). La Civilisation des mœurs. Paris : Calmann-Lévy. Fondane, Benjamin, (2007). Écrits pour le cinéma. Le Muet et le parlant. Édité par Michel Carassou, Olivier Salazar-Ferrer et Ramona Fotiade. Paris : Non-lieu/Verdier. Grévisse, Benoît, (2010). Déontologie du journalisme. Enjeux éthiques et identités professionnelles. Bruxelles : De Boeck Université. Henley, Paul, (2009). The Adventure of the Real: Jean Rouch and the Craft of Ethnographic Cinema, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. Huntington, Samuel P., (2011). The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Simon & Schuster.

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Kroeber, A. C., Kluckhohn, Clyde, (1952). Culture: a Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions. Cambridge: Harvard University Printing Office. Lipovetsky, Gilles, (1987). L’Empire de l’éphémère. Paris : Gallimard. Lipovetsky, Gilles, Serroy, Jean, (2007). L’Écran global. Culture-médias et cinéma à l’âge hypermoderne. Paris : Seuil McLuhan, Marshall, (2017). La Galaxie Gutenberg. La Genèse de l’homme typographique. Trad. de Jean Paré. Paris : Éditions du CNRS. Tylor, E. B., (1920). Primitive Culture. Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Language, Art, and Custom. London: John Murray.

Internet website: Balzac, Honoré de, Illusions perdues, https://beq.ebooksgratuits.com/balzac/Balzac-35.pdf [Balzac 2]

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https://beq.ebooksgratuits.com/balzac/Balzac-35.pdf

The Imaginary of the old Romanian weaves. Research for the homonymous film

Victor GINGIU , Ph. D 18

West University, Timișoara

Abstract

The old Romanian weaves, especially the carpets, have great potential both for anthropological research as well as for the making of a documentary. In their symbolism, a diegesis is potentially found which links the representative characters. The cinematographic reconstruction of the epic layering leads naturally to the folk imaginary. In this article, we focused on a hundred years old exemplary (rug with parrots), trying to rehabilitate a lost story.

Key-words: Romanian carpets, symbol, weave, visual art, film.

Introduction

The information presented below is the documentation needed for the making of a movie which I put forward to the students of the Faculty of Arts and Design from Timișoara, the textile department. The presentation of the folk weaves, sometimes descriptive and without a lot of stylistic interpretations, has the purpose of

familiarizing them with this type of creation whose plastic diversity and symbolism can give birth to numerous methods of approach and visual interpretations, depending on the creativity and the power of synthesis of each and every student. The main idea which stands at the base of this proposal is that of reevaluating the techniques and traditional plastic motifs using the modalities of contemporary expression of some short films which

Victor Gingiu, PhD, is lecturer, at the Faculty of Arts and Design in Timișoara. Famous painter, with 18

numerous exhibitions, creator of a particular style in the contemporary visual, he is renowned for numerous works, such as: Mâna transcedentală, Originea lacrimilor, Extinderea conștiinței, Apele adânci ale subconștientului, Visul androginului, Homunculus (Joaca de-a Dumnezeu), Optimismul unei zile. The academic interest is at present focused on textile paintings and collage. Personal exhibitions: ,,Ipostaze ale eului”, ,,...și încă alte câteva sentimente”, ,, Antroposofisme”, ,,Incursiuni în posibil şi imaginar ”, ,,Despre necontenita fantazare”, ,,Dulceața de cireșe amare”, ,,Care sunt lucrurile cu adevărat importante ?”, ,,Atelier ‘05’’, ,,40 de ipostaze a unei realităţi imaginare”, ,,Vibrație pozitivă”, ,,Poezoterisme”, ,,A8A zi”, ,,Secțiune în 2”.

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s u r p a s s t h e p u r e l y i n f o r m a t i v e , documentary side in favor of visual effects, dynamic compositions, animations specific to the video.

However, my intention is to also create video effects much more complex obtained through overlay or collages of images, of textures of textiles giving birth to a dynamic upholstery, a video-upholstery which should replace the traditional methods of sawing or embroidery. In my view, the fragile space where the warp and the exemplary meet is a fertile environment for multimedia creation.

Motifs and colour in the Romanian folk weaves

In the peasant household, to make the clothing and the interior weaves, the horizontal loom has a paramount role, being used in Romania since the 9th -10th

centuries (Tancred Bănăţeanu, Gheorghe Focșa, Emilia Ionescu, 1957, pg 27-28). Among the most important weaves, the carpets and rugs are made from raw materials as flax, hemp, wool, the skin of animals and cotton. It must be mentioned that the plants are dried under the sun and wind, then placed in water, prepared with different alkaline substances which macerate the woody parts. River water is used to wash the wool thread. After drying, the following process is combing the material. Currently, the long thread is called hair and the short and fluffy one is known as canură. This type of hair is spun and used in sawing. The weaves have a strictly unitary character (drapes, pillows, bedsides) with the purpose of decorating the inside of the home.

Due to the complexity of the decorative motifs used, the carpets from Oltenia are considered the most valuable types of Romanian rugs, having a colouring of mostly burgundy, ultramarine blue, pastel green, white and red. In Oltenia, the artistic creations are grouped in three distinct areas: the North, the South and the center (Tancred Bănăţeanu, Gheorghe Focșa, Emilia Ionescu, 1957, pg. 49). In the North, most of the weaves are dyed red with extract of madder root, with white, dark blue strips and polychromatic shapes which represent stars, ears of wheat, hooks, wheat grains and flowers. The mistletoe is specific to the center area, folded in numerous

creases, sowed with black wool, at the edges hanging ornaments with silver tinsel and geometric floral motifs. In the South, the c o r s e t s h a v e n u m e r o u s c o l o u r f u l embellishments: flowers, birds, people, revealed on a burgundy background, with white and yellow outline. The scarfs were weaves from the past made from hemp and flax, then from cotton and silk, having delicate motifs chosen from stars, spiders, wheels, highlighted by pale yellow tones.

The carpets have an important role in decorating the house, as they represent a major achievement in the region of Oltenia. The sawing technique (the selection from Oltenia) allows the making of ornaments which have a curved outline by climbing on the mold, which leads to the creation of a p l u r a l i t y o f p l a s t i c f o r m s . T h e compositional structure is made up of many successive frames of different heights, decorated with geometric motifs or figurative motives which sometimes can also be found in the center region, representing decorative stylizations: lilac branches, violet, leaves of wheat, hoopoes, geese, turkeys, or animals of oriental influence like camels and lions. When parrots are represented, they have a large size and are placed in the center, surrounded by tulips, daffodils and pearls.

Anthropomorphic silhouettes are sometimes suggested by the details of the clothing of the respective period: hats, umbrellas, crinolines. The hand motif is rarely represented, sometimes it is stylized under the shape of a comb. The favorite colours are red, yellow, blue and white.

In the region of Hunedoara, the most important weaves are the table cloths, narrow towels, decorated with heads, geometrical motifs, made with black and red on a white background (apud Tancred Bănăţeanu, op. cit., pp. 357-358).

In the region of Moldova, the adornment weaves: rugs, carpets, towels, pillow cases have ornaments with geometrical designs, like rods, with the green, orange, brown, light red coloring. (ib., pp.151-152)

Among the most valuable folk artistic creations in Moldavia are the old carpets from Cotnari (in the region of Iasi) made in the 18th and 19th century. These have a delicate colouring from plants, predominantly pale green, yellow-green, blue, light brown and white, being abundant in flowers, plants, trees (the tree of life), birds and animals. The rugs from

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Moldavia are sewn with the technique of intertwined threads or with holes when v e g e t a l m o t i f s a r e e x e c u t e d . Compositionally speaking, as motifs we can find concentric diamonds, parallel strips, fir trees, the cross, anthropomorphic motifs very rarely seen, framed by a smaller border which is decorated with ‘’haulm’’. In the last decades, big flower ornaments are used with intense colours and on a black background.

The region of Suceava is known for its indoor weaves: carpets, plops of wool, with s t r i p s a n d p l a i d , e m b r o i d e r e d handkerchiefs and towels out of cotton. The handkerchiefs are embroidered with thin coloured thread of wool: red, blue, green, gold, having as ornaments combinations of floral motifs and Arabic ones with geometric shapes.

As for the region of Cluj , in the interior 19

of the house, the towels have the ends striped and embellish the walls, the brandy-making machine, they have bright colours: red, blue, orange; they cover the bed, the ends of the pillow case decorated with great care and attention.

A special area, extremely interesting for its types of weaves is Maramureș, creative and at the same time expressive. Here one can meet an array of weaves which embellish the homes: carpets, rugs, pillow cases, towels, table cloths, weaves for purses and bags. The ornamental motifs are geometric, focusing on flower patterns, household items or religious objects, made with a colourful palette for the wool thread while for the cotton with only red, blue and black. Due to the quality of the weave, the diversity of colours and the ornamental motifs used, the carpet from Maramureș represents one of the most important artistic creations from the countryside.

Out of all the techniques used for the weave from Maramureș, we ought to mention one called chilim, which has spread all over the territory. Made with sober colouring (grey, white, brown) or pastel (yellow, blue, green, red), this type of carpet offers a diverse array of ornamental motifs. The geometric forms entwine perfectly with the floral, zoomorphic and anthropomorphous decorations. The last we ought to mention has at least two motifs frequently used which give the image of the

domestic Romanian universe: the rider and the weaver. These two characters reign over the Romanian imaginary, along with the plant motif like the flower with two symmetric leaves and the bouquet of flowers. These appear in a frame, but also as the central motif.

In the reg ion of Banat , the ornamental weave is found mostly in clothing items: waist aprons, skirts, belts, vests, among which the opreg is traditional for this area. Embellishing the head has an important role in the life of the people from Banat. The hats cepse and conciuri are two of such items. The opreg and the conciuri are weaves of great detail and attentively done with delicate motifs sewn with finesse and imagination.

To these we can add other types of weaves such as table cloths, towels, pillows and rugs sewnwith wool and cotton. Usually, the background is white, decorated with red motifs and geometric shapes. The rug from Banat reaches larger sizes than the ones from Oltenia and Moldavia. Often, the technique of chilim is executed with geometric ornaments (jag, curved lines) always having a motif in the center and every other corner. The dominant colours are green, brown, red and black.

The epic potential of weaves

By synthesizing the information, we can easily notice that the traditional weave uses a current mix of geometric motifs and those which stylize the interior universe of the human being. The reconstruction of the symbols through cinematic methods highlights the epic capacity of these patterns. The combinations are never random. There is a story which binds the motifs. For example, the association of plant motifs with zoomorphic ones always conveys the esthetic principles prescribed by the harmonization of colours, but also by the vision of the universe represented. Analyzing some rugs from Oltenia from the exhibition at the Museum of Art in Craiova, we can establish that the narrative of the pattern is filled from one rug to the next, each bringing details from the original exemplary, to the story that initiated the motif.

Tancred Bănățeanu, op cit- the region of the Mountains Apuseni, pg. 352-35319

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The rug with parrots, 19th century, 2,57 x 1,70 m 20

One of the popular patterns is called rug with parrots (see picture). On a field with red flowers, the bird appears in different scenes, each narrating about the general meaning of life. This rug always has a sort of epilogue at the edges: two birds flying. Following the degesis of the characters, we notice that there are three scenes: a bird that is searching through the grass, a second one waiting and a third which although it seems to represent a renewal of the first, is different because of the colouring. It is now mostly white and it looks like it has just returned from playing the first scene. If at first we think it is an error of technique, while analyzing the context we realize that the modification is part of the scenario. Respectively, the floral background undergoes some changes. In the first scene, the parrot is surrounded by tulips, flowers of the spring. Also, on this side of the rug we notice two blackened branches coming out of the winter cold, whose leaves are smaller and sparse.

In the middle of the rug there is the bird waiting. It is a bit bigger, pointing to the fact that it represents the central motif. In absolute contrast with its solitude, the background is explosive, having more big flowers with rich leaves. At a first sight, this parrot from the center seems to have company.

In fact, that is not a second bird, but a more elaborate floral motif. Just by following the pattern of other rugs we became certain that it has a big red flower by its side. The third scene, where the

parrot is much whiter, has sparse

vegetation. Rug with parrots (version) 21

In this triptych, there is the definite suggestion of passing of time, from the tulips to the autumn leaves, and this suggestion keeps the narrative alive. The meaning of the time passing and the becoming, a generic obsession of the creators, is built by this hundred-year-old carpet through three stylized characters. And again, as a confirmation of the idea, the story has an ending. The two birds flying become in this context the essence of life in the center of which one value stands, one single human victory: mating with all its consequences. It is portrayed as flying, taking place even this time in an exuberant floral background; it does not constitute an ending for the story, but more of a post scriptum sapiential. In general, the drawings on the carpet are part of an ensemble and have a clear meaning from the beginning. Out of the most popular patterns, the hora seems to serve our idea best. The stylized shapes of the dancers reproduce the most popular and fun activity in the village, but also the moment of maximum socializing. A carpet from the

Image taken from: https://romania.ici.ro/ro/cultura/pagina.php?id=61120

Image taken from: https://romania.ici.ro/ro/cultura/pagina.php?id=61121

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with lots of dancers, musicians and onlookers dressed according to the Phanariote epoch. The pattern stopped being reproduced during the interwar period, however the motif still continues to be part of the carpet imaginary, especially of the technique chilim, as the rugs from O l t e n i a a r e k n o w n . A l t h o u g h t h e representations do not provide much information, the placement and the number of dancers continue to have epic value. The human attitudes as well as the current objects offer symbolic measure to a life in progress. In making a documentary about the Romanian weaves we consider vital the reproduction of these dynamic shapes from a carpet. It is not the flower sewn out of wool that is important, but the place where i t has been taken from. Although

reproduced after patterns which circulated from a weaver to another, the drawings on the weaves are part of a symbolic scenario which expresses quite well the tension in life. Often, the artisan lost touch with the story found at the beginning of the pattern which led to the fragmentation of the story and to the completion of it in the purest tradition of the folk art. By finding the message, The Film acquires the capacity to reproduce precisely the connection between the different images. The selection and the reassembly are two elements which the film can do easily. As far as we are concerned, we think about the restoration of the mythic relations between the characters and the representations from the weave through a subjective synthesis of weaves from ethnographic museums.

References: Bănăţeanu,T., Focșa,G., Ionescu E (1957). Arta în Republica Populară Română. București: Editura de Stat pentru Literatură și Artă. Banciu, R. (2004). Scurtă istorie a artelor textile. Timișoara: Editura Marineasa Bușneag, O. (1976). Arta decorativă românească. București: Editura Meridiane.

Internet websites: https://romania.ici.ro/ro/cultura/pagina.php?id=611

Trans. Andreea Barbu Terzian

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https://romania.ici.ro/ro/cultura/pagina.php?id=611

An evocative documentary - General Constantin Christescu

Manuel STĂNESCU , PhD, researcher 22

Institute for Political Studies of Defence and Military History, Bucharest

Abstract: In this article, starting from a critical event in Romania's history, the participation to the World War I, we proposed to design a scenario based on sound scientific research to capture less known characters and situations. In the tragedy of the huge human loss that represented the first world conflagration, we often lose sight of people's faces; among the scores of thousands of deaths the figures are blurred, vague, often barely sketched. We have a minority of personalities who have undoubtedly marked this period, but beyond them there are people, some of them key characters in a certain context, whom posterity unjustly forgot. Trying a different approach to history from an artistic perspective, we chose a name and a situation that can surprise human nature with defects, qualities, fulfilments and disillusionments, all against the background of an event with a strong emotional charge.

Keywords: World War I, Romania during war, historical evocation, historical documentary, Romanian historical personalities.

Manuel Stănescu is a graduate of the Faculty of History at Bucharest University (1998) and of the master 22

studies Romanian in the 20th Century (2003) within the same institution. Since 2011, doctor in history with a thesis on the participation of the Romanian army at the conquest of Odessa (1941). He is currently a researcher at the Institute for Political Studies of Defence and Military History, Ministry of National Defence. He has published numerous articles on military history in the country and abroad as author and co-author. The prize of the magazine Gândirea militară românească (Romanian Military Thinking) and Fundaţia Culturală Magazin Istoric (Historical Magazine Cultural Foundation) in 2009 for the work Enciclopedia Armatei României (Encyclopaedia of the Romanian Army) (Publishing House of the Army Technical-Editorial Centre), as co-author. The most recent work: Gustul amar al victoriei. Campania armatei române pentru cucerirea Odessei, august-octombrie 1941 (The bitter taste of victory. Campaign of the Romanian Army for the conquest of Odessa, August-October 1941), Târgoviş te, Cetatea de Scaun Publishing House, 2016, [email protected].

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Even with less success than literature, the Romanian cinema also evoked this essential event in Romania's history, through films out of which some have entered the public consciousness. But these a r t i s t i c ' l a n d m a r k s ' , v e r y l i m i t e d ideologically and stylistically restrained (a limitation that remained, albeit much diluted, in the few post-1989 genre productions) are totally insufficient if we consider the impact of the First World War on the Romanian society in its entirety. The nearness of the Centenary of the Great Union, which we will celebrate in 2018, b r i n g s b a c k t h e n e e d f o r a r t i s t i c r e p r e s e n t a t i o n , p e r h a p s n o t s o unconventional, out of the 'classical' patterns as adapted to present generations through the approach.

The need to evoke the past is found across the continent and beyond the ocean. The reproduction of the past for present generations is not only a purely artistic desire, but also a discreet form of soft power that the great nations are constantly using and with much devotion. The recent and most eloquent example is director Christopher Nolan's excellent film Dunkirk where a painful defeat is transformed into a great victory with the expression of a national consensus in the desperate situations of which, lo and behold, only the great nations are capable.

The vision of the majority of history, the less familiar with the past, is given by what is predominantly transmitted through mass media, which reproduce events as the main actors observed. But true history is written down, among the least known, at the level of anonymity or the unfairly forgetful posterity. History also means their experiences; the natural ly l imited perception of the many forms the whole, that 'history' to which we generically relate.

From an artistic perspective, a historical evocation of people in a context rather than people-populated contexts is preferable. A character traced in various situations and contexts may reflect a more authentic event, revealing essential details that we would ignore by another approach.

Starting from this finding, we designed a scenario based on rigorous scientific research that includes, besides heroism, sacrifice and tragedies on an industrial scale, features natural to the human character: pride, desire for glory at all costs, antipathies that go beyond the general

interest, envy. In fact, history is made by people, with the amalgam of specific qualities and flaws, including those who at one point held the destiny of a nation in their own hands. The research included a wide range of scientific sources specific to the research in the field of history: official documents in military archives, memoirs and journals and specialized papers. Looking ahead, I'm considering discussions with the descendants of the scenario's 'heroes,' who will certainly offer additional useful details.

In the public opinion, the most important milestone in World War I is represented by the battles of the summer of 1917, lo and behold, we celebrated 100 years ago: Mărăşti, Mărăşeşti, Oituz. What names come to mind when we evoke them? Probably King Ferdinand and Queen Mary, possibly Ecaterina Teodoroiu; for those fond of history, maybe generals Averescu or Prezan. The name of the general Eremia Grigorescu, the creator of the famous phrase 'Pe aici nu se trece!' (They shall not pass!) also bears some resonance. The name of the General Constantin Christescu, however, certainly makes people shrug. The imaginary scenario is based on the interaction between the two characters, the generals Constantin Christescu and Eremia G r i g o r e s c u ( w h o a r e s u c c e s s i v e l y commanding the Romanian Army 1 in the foreground of the battle of Mărășești), which gave rise to disputes whose echo is not extinguished even today.

Firstly, a brief evocation of our characters. General Constantin Christescu was born on December 2nd 1866 and attended the courses of the Infantry and Cavalry Officers School in Bucharest, from where he graduated in 1887. He then attended the courses of the Polytechnic School in Paris in 1890, the Application and Genius School at Fontainebleau in 1892 and the Superior School of War in Paris. In view of the studies, it was natural to occupy important positions before the war: a teacher at the Superior School of War (whom he led as commander between 1910 and 1912) and subordinate of the General Staff. After Romania entered the war (August 1916), he was successively head of the 2nd and 3rd Romanian Armies, commander of the North Army, under-head of the Great General Headquarters, commander of the 1st Army, inspector of the

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recruiting Centres in Moldova. Between April 1920 and May 1923 he was Head of the General Staff until his premature death on May 9th, 1923, at the age of 57.

Without having an equally impressive CV, the general Eremia Grigorescu was perhaps the most energetic commander of the front in the First World War, born on September 28th, 1863, in Târgu Bujor. After high school, he first enrolled to the Faculty of Medicine and Sciences within the University of Iaşi and dropped out in 1882, following his admission to the Infantry and Cavalry School. Upon finishing the classes of the military school in 1886, he married Elena Arapu, a math teacher, the first graduate woman of the University of Iași. D u r i n g t h e w a r , h e m e e t s E l e n a Negropontes, 20 years younger; in her mansion in Oituz, the command of Division 15, whose commander was Grigorescu, was installed. In 1917, a child was born of this relationship; a year later, Grigorescu divorced his wife and then married Elena Negropontes, also recognizing the child. Elena's brother, the quite rich George Ulisse Negropontes, later became mayor of Mărășești, and the land for the construction of the Mausoleum was donated from the family estate, the reason for a dispute to which we will later return.

On July 1st, 1917, the general Constantin Christescu was appointed to command the Romanian Army 1, which was to bear the brunt of the battle of Mărăşeşti. On August 11th (July 29th, old style) in the middle of a battle, a conflict ensued between the Russian general Ragoza, the commander of the Army Group of the 4th Russian Army and Romanian Army 1, and Christescu, determined by a different view on how the battle should be fought. Ragoza made a complaint to General Dmitri Şcerbacev, the chief of the army staff of the Russian troops on the Romanian front. He asked the general Constantin Prezan, the chief of the Marele Cartier General (Great General Headquarters), to dismiss Christescu; subject to the approval of Ferdinand, the King agreed to replace Christescu with Eremia Grigorescu, a decision that proved to be very inspired. Christescu was moved to a humiliating job as an inspector of the recruiting centers in Moldova, which reinforced the public's perception that he had made a serious mistake.

W e r e t h e r e r e a s o n s t o d i s m i s s Christescu? The controversy still remains.

General Prezan was not an admirer of the general, whom he accused of certain idleness when making decisions and of the great losses suffered at the beginning of the battle. The Alliance with Russia was too important to be sacrificed for the sake of an officer who enjoyed a bad reputation. There was a reason behind his removal: Christescu was in good terms with Colonel Alexander D. Sturdza, who deserted the enemy in early 1917. Sturdza's journal was in the suitcase of his ordinance, which was killed when the two were passing through Romanian lines. The document recovered i n c l u d e d C h r i s t e s c u ' s b l i s t e r i n g appreciation of king Ferdinand, who did not take immediate action, although it is clear that he did not forget. Queen Mary had a similar view; after the general's dismissal, she wrote in the journal: 'Cristescu seems to have been a fai lure. I have never understood why Nando [Ferdinand, o.n.] entrusted him a more important command when his character is so questionable.'

The great memorialist Constantin Argetoianu considered Christescu to be a victim of the Liberals' political games, who did not recognize his merits during the war: 'Much of what was found in November [1918, when the army was re-mobilized o.n.] under arms and in the warehouses was due to the ability with which General Christescu falsified the staff list and inventories of our warehouses. This did not prevent him from coming out of the war w i t h o u t t h e d e c o r a t i o n ' M i h a i Viteazul' (Michael the Brave), which almost all generals received. The issue of 'microcephalus' in Sturdza's papers was forgiven. In Mărășești he was offered command only to break his bones a few days later.'

The dispute between the families of Eremia Grigorescu (dead on July 19th, 1919, due to an infectious disease with a rampant evolution) and Christescu became notorious after the war. The family of General Grigorescu (who, as I mentioned, donated the land to build the monument) refused to inhume the 'rival' in the Mărăşeşti Mausoleum: Eremia Grigorescu could not share the posthumous glory with the one discharged in a not very honourable manner. As a consequence, the bones of the now-forgotten general rest at the Belu cemetery in Bucharest. The views of historians are today divided regarding the reasons for his defeat in the full battle of

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Mărăşeşti, although his military value is undoubtedly recognized. On May 11th, 1923, at the meeting of the Romanian Academy dedicated to honouring his memory, Grigore Antipa stated: 'We owe General Cristescu the greatest victory of the Romanian army in the world war; because he is the one who, through his great organizer talents, rebuilt our army in Moldova and organized its heroic struggle and prepared the victory of Mărăşeşti [...] For the Romanian conscience, General C r i s t e s c u i s t h e m o s t s p l e n d i d manifestation of the Romanian genius, both

as a thinker and as a creative artist, in the art and science of strategy.’ A dispute that may deserve an artistic representation in the background of a war that shaped our destiny. General Constantine Christescu, evoked in the script, is a tragic figure, forlorn in history through oblivion. Equally, he is a dedicated man , a professional who proved his military abilities; that is why, considering himself aggrieved, he saw posterity as a burden, hoping for the depths of the soul that the truth, no matter how late, would confer him the statue he deserves.

References Ioaniţiu A. (1929). Războiul României 1916-1918, vol. I, 128-176. Bucureşti: Tipografia Geniului. Dobrinescu F.V., Oşca A., Niculescu A. (2001). Şefii Statului Major General Român, 91-103. Bucureşti: Editura Europa Nova. Maria Regina României (2015). Jurnal de război 1917-1918,vol. II, p. 112.Bucureşti: Editura Humanitas. Otu P. (2017). Generalul Constantin Christescu – un Lanrezac al românilor, in Magazin Istoric, 7(604) iulie 2017, 15-19. Otu, P., Oroianu T. (1997). Personalităţi ale gândirii militare româneşti, vol.I, 120-125. Bucureşti: Editura Academiei de Înalte Studii Militare. Torrey G.E. (2014). România în Primul Război Mondial, passim. Bucureşti: Meteor Publishing Film Marele Cartier General, Arhivele Militare Române, fond Microfilme.

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New horizons. Timbrality and orchestrations after the apparition of new electro-acoustic and digital instruments due to advanced techniques

and the birth of progressive rock

VENCZEL Peter , PhD, 23

Babeș-Bolyai University, Faculty of Theatre and Television, Cinematography-Photo-Media Section, Cluj-Napoca

Abstract: Starting from the early ‘60s and up until the end of the ‘80s music industry has gone through numerous innovations. The inventions of this period of time represent the basis of technology, and by changing the orchestrations of almost every music genre, they have led to the birth of new genres, such as progressive, symphonic or electronic rock. The following article presents the major improvements that have been made through time, from the invention of the triode to the use of technical procedures (such as sampling), proving that this fast evolution of music and musical instruments bears great importance not only in the circle of musicians, but also in the making of movie and theater soundtracks.

Keywords: progressive rock, symphonic rock, guitar, synthesizer, soundtrack, amplifier

Introduction

In the interval between 1960-1980 there ruled three musical genres, all of them having a great influence on the types of music that were used in movies, theatre and musical theatres. Those three were the

following: rock, progressive rock and electronic rock. First of all, what needs to be said is that the term „rock” had a whole different meaning back then. Just by listening to the rock songs from the ‘60s or even ‘80s one could easily observe that there is a

Venczel Peter was born in 1964, in Cluj - Napoca. His passion for music started in his twenties, when he 23

joined, as a keyboard player, a famous rock band of that time, Compact. He began his acting career in 1986, when he started working at the Hungarian Opera of Cluj as an operetta singer. Later on, he worked as a stage manager and as a director assistant as well, cooperating with directors such as Moravetz L., Selmeczy Gy. or Ascher T. In 2010 he began his teaching career at the Babes -Bolyai University, specializing in the area of sound design, film music and soundtrack techniques and technologies. As a composer, Venczel Peter created music for musicals, rock operas and puppet shows. His name is tied to one of the first rock operas directed in Romania, Matthias Rex. His other works include Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (musical), Ballet in Blue (ballet) and many more.

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remarkable difference, due to the diversity of the musical genres. These days, the word „rock” is used for describing songs that have a coarse sonority, whereas pop and commercial songs are referred to as having a pleasant sound, even if both those genres have the same origin. In this study the term will be used by its general meaning, referring to the genre of music that became popular in the mid ‘50s, including hard-rock, electronic rock and even pop-rock. There are numerous rock species that throughout time came into contact with the world of cinema and theatre, providing as a good example the rock operas or the musicals - but in this case, we wi l l ta lk about that prec ise subcategory of the rock music that had the greatest impact on the orchestration, the concept, the soundtrack and the dramaturgy of a movie, as well as on theatre music. For the creation of these music genres, we can mention two major components that had a great importance and exacted a powerful impulse on the production of sounds: the development of the classic guitar into an electro-acoustic and later electronic one and the apparition of the synthesizer.

The birth of the classic and electric guitar, and the development of the amplifier

To fully understand the development of the classic guitar, we have to go back in time. In the early 1900,s jazz was the most popular and listenable genre of music, especially on the continent of America. The culture of the European and African immigrants made its mark on jazz music by homogenizing their styles, giving birth to this generous and variable music genre that is known by all today. The period of glory in jazz music was characterized by the apparition of big b a n d s , l e d b y p r e s t i g i o u s instrumentalists. They all had a different perception and a certain style, but the thing all bands had in common was the use of the same kind of instruments, which were the brass and wooden instruments, drums, contrabass, piano and guitar. There were many professional and popular guitar players such as Rosetta Thorpe, T. Bone Walker, Carlie

Christian (these names being just the tip of the iceberg), but all of them had one major problem: the sound of their instruments was not capable to outsound the brass instruments. The craftsmen of that time tried their very best to solve the issue, and their f irst attempt was to modify the resonance box of the guitar. This led to changing its material from wood to metal. The solution was put in practice by Adolf Rickenbacker, but was not good enough to achieve the final goal, a louder sound. That period of time was characterised by technical improvements in all areas, i n c l u d i n g t h e e l e c t r o n i c s a n d electrotechnics, so in 1907 an engineer named Lee De Forest came up with a whole new idea for the construction and evolution of the guitar, inventing the triode. This device was the first to amplify certain audio signals, because of its sophisticated way of working. The device allowed the modulation of the electron flux from a „filament” to a „plate”, inside a glass vacuum tube. Based on these ideas, he later invented the first audio amplifier that finally could control the response of the frequencies, the amplifying level, the noises and the distortion. The invention of the amplifier spread quickly, and its huge success encouraged some well-known guitar players to make certain experiments in this direction. Many tried to amplify the sound of the acoust ic guitar by mounting the transducer of a telephone on it, obtaining relatively positive results. In 1931 however, George Beauchamp came up with a new and impressive invention: he conceived the first amplified electric gu i t a r, r ep lac ing the te lephone transducer and using a pick-up made of Tungsten instead. His invention was also acknowledged by the National Guitar Corporation. From that moment on, all efforts were focused on constantly improving this newly discovered instrument. One of the many who succeeded in developing something new was a guitar player named Lester William Polsfuss, mostly known by the name of Les Paul. He succeeded in c omb i n i n g t he a l r e ady e x i s t i n g construction of a guitar with the new pickups, thus creating a semi-acoustic

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g u i t a r w i t h a s o l i d b o d y. T h i s development was crowned by a great success, and after gaining a lot of experience, finally led to the invention of the very first guitar made out of solid wood (without a resonance box), the first Gibson Les Paul. Another well-known person that can be tied to the improvements of the electric guitar was none other than Leo Fender. In 1951 he launched another type of electric guitar, which he init ia l ly named Broadcaster, and later changed itinto Telecaster after he had equipped it with electromagnetic pickups made by him in 1945. These pickups were originally conceived for Hawaiian guitars, but after being adapted, they became the pickups that are also used today. However, probably the most popular invention of Leo Fenders was the Stratocaster, invented in 1954. This type was lighter than the earlier versions, had three pickups, and its timbrality permitted its player to address more music genres without changing the guitar. The above-mentioned guitars came to be the favorites of guitar players throughout the world (with few exceptions), and were used as reference for the creation of later guitar versions. Up until this point, we have only mentioned the numerous innovations regarding the improvements of the guitar, but the amplifiers weren’t left out either, because Leo Fender had proven to be a visionary in this area as well. A professional in the world of electronics, he established in 1938 the Fender Radio Service in Anaheim, California, in collaboration with his associate Doc Kauffman, a company that provided technical assistance and radio service. Needless to say, the partners welcomed a great success with this establishment, but after the construction of the first K&F model in 1945, the collaboration came to an end. After a short period of time, Leo Fender started his own company, Fender Mus i ca l I n s t rument s , wh ich was specifically founded to sell amplifiers. The first model made by this company to be known worldwide was the Fender B a s s m a n a m p l i f i e r. Kn o w n , b u t unfortunately not used, because of the law of that period, which only allowed international shipping to certain countries and at a very high price.

Because of its inaccessibility, a British musical instruments shop owner decided to make a similar, but more accessible amplifier for the European musicians, which could be purchased at a much lower price than the original. The idea was of a drummer’s named Jim Marshall, who owned a music instruments shop in London, where he gave drum teaching lessons as well. Besides the passionate clients, a lot of consecrated musicians visited Marshall’s shop, such as Pete Townsend from The Who, Ritchie Blackmore from Deep Purple and Big Jim Sullivan as well. Living in the pioneering period of electric instruments, these visitors often had discussions about the potential improvements that could have been made in order to gain a better access to certain instruments. This led to a collaboration between Jim Marshall and two experienced electronicists, Dudley Craven and Ken Bran, the three of them starting a foundation named Marshall Amplification in 1962. Only one year later they launched their first product, the JTM 45 Mark II prototype, which was successful not only because of its price and accessibility, but also because it was very well designed. To sum up, the Fender and Marshall amplifiers, together with the Gibson and Fender electric guitars all contributed to the innovations in music, leading to new, modern forms of jazz, country and rock music. However, they weren’t the only inventions worth mentioning.

The invention of the „delay” and the recording studios

At the same time with the instruments’ industry another development specific to that time was taking place: that of the recording studios. The purpose of these studios was to make phonograms, which were later multiplied by the record labels and sold on vinyl so that the fans could listen to their favorite bands at home, too. These studios appeared around the same time as the cultural revolution of the ‘60s, when a lot of iconic bands (such as Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd) started their musical career. The record engineers who worked in these studios were pioneers in the field, mainly because of their attempts to

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improve the tape recorders. Many guitar players profited from the knowledge of these engineers by asking for answers to certain questions. One of these questions was how to solve the lack of spatiality on recordings, which caused a great quality problem for them. Viewing the situation from an acoustic point of view, the sound engineers realised that the only way of bypassing the problem was to avoid recording in rooms with reverberation. The solution came from the Elektro Mess Technik recording engineers in the ‘50s, and it consisted of the invention of the plate reverb. The device, which was based on the sound of a metal disc shaped as a plate, which was transmitted by an attached electromagnetic pickup, ending in the reverberation of the initial sound. The device was extremely heavy, weighing about 270 kg, and the first two copies were installed at Abbey Road Studio in London (used by The Beatles and Pink Floyd) and the RCA Studio B in Nashville. The spring reverbs that appeared later were much more compact compared to the plate reverbs, because they occupied a smaller place and were therefore more practical than the former. Due to this fact, these reverbs are used even today, being built into the guitar amplifiers. Yet another effect of the experiments made during that time was the invention of the delay. The word itself means an echo, the recording of an audio signal which is played in less than a few seconds later, in a controlled way. The first forms were made with the help of a tape recorder. Brands like Ecoplex, EchoSonic and Roland Space Echo became popular in the music industry and used by many famous guitar players such as Chet Atkins, Brian May from Queen, David Gilmour from Pink Floyd or Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin. But because nothing good ever comes easily and without trouble, these new inventions had their drawbacks as well. The dimensions and mechanic use of the reverbs and delay effect units meant a great technical problem for the live performances of every band and musician that was on tour. Luckily, the discovery of the transistors and the ICs (integral circuits) helped the sound engineers with this issue, because this way they could build the new generation

of digital effects. These weighed much less, and were definitely easier to carry, to store and repair. The next step was again a revolutionary one, through the invention of processors and memory units, which could allow the conversion of analog data into digital. This way, all of the effects could have been integrated into a single „multi-effect” unit, these being the ones used even to our days. Further on, the technicians could not only manipulate the storage of the effects, but also generate them. With the help of computers and informatics programs, they managed to convert the audio signal by using the new types of digital interfaces, also known as sound cards. To conclude, in just fifty years, the music industry has made quite some progress, and today musicians have access to all kinds of effects, whether they want analog, digital or virtual ones. The impressive number of choices offered the guitar players an even bigger source of inspiration, a never-ending flow of new and creative ideas. The above-mentioned amplifiers and effects were used in those days as a way of opening new horizons. Today, however, they are seen as the subject of sophisticated and refined creation that allowed modern music, movie soundtracks, theatre plays, but also TV and radio transmissions to make a few steps forward towards perfection.

The synthesizer

We continue our journey with a smaller jump back in time, to 1969, the birth year of the synthesizer. Robert Moog, together with Herbert Deutsch, conceived an instrument that could be used by many musicians, giving them wide opportunities of making electronic sounds not only in studios, but also in live concerts. As it was a new and different instrument, the usage of the synthesizer was very difficult and complex, and so it led to the its abandonment by many bands. Other musicians, however, saw another side of it, that of renewal and „refreshment” of the sonority of rock music. Keith Emerson (the keyboard player from the E.L.P band) was the first person to use a synthesizer, recording different settings on the card index.

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Thanks to his implication and dedication to improve the electronic music, Moog built many professional relationships with famous artists such as Rick Wakeman, John Cage, Jean Jacques Perrey or Keith Emerson.

The birth of electronic, symphonic and progressive rock

The presence of a new instrument in the music industry led to the development of a new genre of music: electronic rock. Profiting from the numerous qualities of the synthesizer, many composers managed to put their fantasy world into their music, leaving the audience with the feeling of walking into a dream world, giving as example no other than Vangelis and Jean Michel Jarre. Other musicians such as Kraftwerk used it to make a kind of robotic music. The word „progressive” has always been used to describe those music tendencies that try to enlarge the usual boundaries, to expand from the accepted form of a music genre, looking for a different form of expression. The results of the new sounds and sound experiments could be admired by the public on the occasion of the first conceptual albums, the creation of which was extremely important from the point of view of the development of the genre. Along with these recordings, the musicians have turned their back on the old - and at the time the only existent – forms and structures and tried to make something new. If we think about the structure of the hits of the ‘50s and 60’s we could easily spot out the formula: introduction – verse – chorus – transition – verse – chorus. The musicians of the epoch, Frank Zappa for instance, were open to experiment and refused to do the same, trying to come up with a different scheme. Later on, the inverted adaptation mode appeared, which meant the presentation of a famous rock piece with a symphonic orchestra, sometimes even without the participation of the initial interpreters of the song. Progressive rock was adapted by so many musicians, that it would be almost impossible to name everyone who left their mark in this genre, but there were some who represented it in its essence

and highlighted the many valences of progressive rock. Here we could mention the following bands: Pink Floyd, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Yes. Genesis. Gentle Giant, Mike Oldfield, Frank Zappa, Asia or Peter Gabriel. These artists have established the style of progressive rock itself, creating the characteristics of it, which were the following: extremely long compositions, with a length of 20 minutes or more, not being characterized as melodious lines and therefore accepted by the audience only after a period of time of listening to them. These songs were based on one or more moves and took an epic form, being framed by the help of a musical leitmotiv. One of the examples for this phenomena can be found in the Meddle album of Pink Floyd, that appeared in 1971, with the song named Echoes – which lasted 22 minutes. Another example, also from Pink Floyd, the album named Animals (1977), where basically the whole LP (except for the first and last song, which both last 1 minute) is formed of three parts: The Pigs, The Dogs, The Sheep.

- unclear texts during the first audition, which are often complex and abstract, many of them having as topics science-fiction, fantasy, religion, history or politics. In many cases, the texts themselves offer great value to the song. - conceptual albums, that were often constructed in a similar way, like a movie or a theatre piece. Many artists chose to make a double album to develop a certain theme. One of the best examples for applying this style was the double album named Tales from Topographic Oceans by Yes, which appeared in 1973. - vocalists with unique and unusual voice, and somet imes the presence of a polyphonic vocal part, giving as an example Jon Anderson from Yes, who was very well known for using these uncommon voices - using more electric instruments besides the traditional ones – a.k.a. the solo guitar, percussion and bass guitar, especially keyboards. Some bands even introduced instruments that were not characteristic to rock music, such as the flute, violin or the harp, to confer their pieces a special and unique sound - using uncommon tones and rhythms. The solo parts of many progressive rock songs gave the musicians an opportunity to show their techniques and talent because they were much longer than in most genres

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- evoking classical music and combining it with their own style. The Firebird suite of Stravinsky was known to be played in almost every intro of Yes concerts. Other musicians, Emerson, Lake and Palmer for instance, remade classical songs and added a bit of their own style as well with the Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition - the correlation between music and visual arts, such as the paintings of great value from the album covers that were often projected by famous artists

Until 1969 no one had ever thought about comb in i ng r ock w i th s ymphon i c orchestra. Deep Purple was the first band ever to have prof i ted f rom the unexplored opportunit ies of th is combination. The first rock concert that was interpreted by a symphonic orchestra can be dated back to 1969, the same year when the first album of this collaboration appeared. The song was called Concerto for Group and Orchestra, and was interpreted by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and by Deep Pu rp l e , i n co rpo ra t i n g t he characteristics of a concerto grosso, a concerting symphony and an orchestrated concert. After this concert in 1969, Deep Purple made their second appearance alongside a symphonic orchestra after nearly 30 years, in 1999, when they interpreted the concerto for group and orchestra, this time collaborating with the London Symphony Orchestra. The above-mentioned group was founded in 1904, and was famous for collaborating with well-known conductors such as Edward Elgar, Claudio Abbado, Tilson Thomas, and many others. After 1969, LSO accepted many collaborations with rock bands, and were also known for remaking certain rock songs. Besides that, the group was also famous for recording the soundtracks of many popular movies and prequels such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones or Tomb Raider. At the beginning of the ‘70s, some rock musicians started to experiment with the idea of combining classical music and rock, especially working with the compositions of Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky or Mussorgsky. One of the remarkable personalities of symphonic rock was (and still is) no other than Rick Wakeman, a very special and highly educated person. Wakeman began

his career as the keyboard player in the rock band Yes. In 1974 the band presented their symphonic-oratorical rock piece named Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and later, in 1975, a symphonic rock piece called The Myth and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. In this piece, they collaborated with the above-mentioned London Symphonic Orchestra as well as with The Engl i sh Chamber Choir (conductor: David Maesham) and with The English Rock Ensemble (with Barney James - drums, Mike Egan and Geoff Crampton - guitar, John Hodgson – percussion, Roger Newell – bass, David Hemmings – narrator, Ashley Holt and Gary Pickford-Hopkins – vocalist and Rick Wakeman at the keyboard). Another keyboard player representative of progressive rock was Keith Emerson, who has also created many soundtracks, besides working with ELP. Emerson was particularly interested in European horror movies, especially the italian ones, and so his music was also present in the horror movies of that time: Inferno (1979), The Church (1985), Murder Rock (1984) and Best Revenge (1973). Progressive rock has an overflowing characteristic, by listening to it one can feel seduced, and transported into another dimension, with the help of music. As a result, the relation built between progressive rock and the visual arts can be understood as a necessary and obvious bound. The first group to have realised this vital connection was Pink Floyd, the first band in history that used as a design the projection of fluid s l ides, and later, as technology developed, moving objects, animations, mini-movies that were often directed by famous graphic artists and directors. The collaborations between the artists was mutual, meaning that not only the artists approached the directors, but also vice-versa. Pink Floyd has composed the music of movies such as Tonite Let’s All make love in London (1968) directed by Peter Whitehead), More (1969) and La vallée (1972) both directed by Barbet Shroedesc or The Body (1970), directed by Roy Battesbury. The work of Dire Straits’ composer, Mark Knopfler, was remarkable as well, comprising 37 soundtracks, most of them being taken from the album of the band,

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but also including new creations which were later added to a different album. His music was very similar to the Italian composer Ennio Morricone’s. From the moment he decided to build a solo career, Mark Knopfler worked in two areas: creating country music for his solo album and also making soundtracks for different movies, proving his talent and dedication towards the symphonic orchestra. One of his works included the soundtrack made for Wag the Dog, directed by Barry Levinson in 1997. Many musicians took advantage of these new opportunities to compose music for movies, including Mike Oldfield. In 1970, he composed exclusively instrumental albums.. His first album was called Tubular Bells, and appeared on the soundtrack of The Exorcist (1973), directed by William Friedkin. Oldfield also collaborated with Roland Joffee for the movie The Killing Fields. If we were to talk about progressive rock musicians and what they achieved through music, there is no doubt that Vangelis would first come to mind. Many peop l e who we re i n t e re s ted i n meditation, diaphone music remember h im as the most representat ive interpreter, although very few know that Vangelis was a former member of a progressive rock band named Aphrodite’s Child, together with Irene Papas and Demis Roussos. The avant-gardist group released only three albums, the most significant of which in 1972, named 666. The music itself was very difficult to listen to, being quite unpleasant to the ear. After this chapter of his life, Vangelis has started his experiments with electronic music, trying out all the possibilities the ins t ruments permit ted h im. The composer rarely decided to work with singers, and when he did, it was only to transform the singers’ performance into a musical instrument to his already unique style. One of the partners with whom he had worked was, among others, Jon Anderson from Yes. Apart from his talent in composing meditation music, Vangelis was also very much interested in making soundtracks for movies. He created the music from the Chariots of Fire movie, in 1981 - for which he had received an Oscar, and also for 1492 Conquest of

Paradise, and Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott. Meanwhile, technology has evolved at first analogically and after the ‘80s d ig i ta l ly, which accelerated and facilitated the processes that were used in making soundtracks, both from artistic and technical points of view. This evolution led to the tightening of the bond between composers, sound designers, monteurs and directors – accelerating altogether the terms of time limitation regarding the final product. The pioneer in synthesizers and timbre samples from later was Ray Kurzweil, big fan of science fiction literature, who began to write computer programs at the age of 12. He was the one to invent, among others, the first print-to-speech reading machine for blind people, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, the first electric instrument that was capable of stimulating the timbre and sound of the grand piano and other symphonic instruments. Kurzweil’s enterprise is even today one of the most advanced and d e v e l o p e d c o m p a n i e s w h i c h manufactures instruments that can reproduce synthetic or sample sounds. N o t a l o n g t i m e a f t e r t h e s e developments, Roland, Korg and Yamaha began as well to use this technology, which is nowadays used especially by German companies that are competing on the market of VSTi sales, an here we can mention, among others, Best Service, Project SAM, East West, Heavyocity, Spectrasonics, Steinberg and Native Instruments. A short time after that, for helping composers, sound designers and movie editors, programs for sequencing and music software products were invented. These programs facilitated the work of the professionals because it could put in practice digital technology, helping them control, maneuver and store the music composed. As an example, we could mention Steinberg – Cubase, Nuendo, Wavelab, Sibelius. Sequoia, Cakewalk – Sonar or Ableton – Suite. To understand the importance and the principle by which these technical improvements took place, (not to mention the advantage obtained in the soundtrack field), there are a few terms that need to be understood by the reader.

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Analog – The term is used for anything t h a t m e a s u r e s s o m e t h i n g , a n d communicates something physical that can be interpreted. For example, the analog clock shows the passing of time through the rotation of its hands. The word derives from the Greek „analogos” which means „proportion”. Sound designer Marco Migliari from Real World Studio described it as „Anything that is outside the digital box”, meaning that in an audio chain everything but the AD/DA convert is analog. Digital – digital, binary language used in the world of computers. „Binary digit” or shortened just „bit” means either number 1 – which means „switch on”, or number 0 – meaning „switch off”, information that is sent to the billions of switches of a system processor. Sampling – the intention of audio-technics includes capturing the natural and artificial sounds, their conversion into electronic ones, and their stocking and transmission through time and space. If we take into account that the sound is analog, the recorded and stocked sounds, if not reproduced in analog form, are of no u se , on l y r ep re sen t i ng pu re information. Therefore, it is essential to understand the analog demarche even when one works in digital. AD/DA is a converting program that transforms analog signs into digital ones and vice-versa. Sampling is the key to digital stocking. Contrary to analog stockings, digital systems analyze sound waves hundreds of t imes per second, with maximal thoroughness in order to convert them into binary language. The sampling frequency is the number of analyses made by the processor in one second, and because it’s cyclic, it is measured in Hz. The depth of the bit represents the number of bits per second. For example, 16 bit = 1001101100110101 and 32 bit = 000111001010001000101000100010000. Digital systems are based on the sampling of the sound, which means analyzing sound waves thousands and hundreds of time per second, a process which can be very difficult with a slow functioning processing system. The thereby produced latency can be manifested in the delay of the signal between the capture and redaction. To prevent these dysfunctions from happening, the system has to

provide a latency of up to only a few milliseconds (which can’t be perceived by the human ear). If the AD/DA analyzes, for example, a sound wave at 96.000 times /sec, then we can say that the sampling frequency is of 96 kHz. Knowing that the human ear perceives sounds between 20Hz and 20kHz, it can be said that the sampling frequency has to be twice the perception which means reaching a value of above 40 kHz. Therefore, the minimal standards are 44.1 kHz/16 bits, but one can also find different varieties of high fidelity from 40 kHz/24 bits or 96 kHz/32 bits. GUI – stands for graphical user interface. Means one or more interfaces between an operating system/program and user (for example the keyboard, monitor, mouse) have the role of facilitating the user’s job, providing an easier way to manipulate and control the program in use. DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) controller – an interface which makes the user’s work a lot easier, having a lot of p a d s , b u t t o n s a n d f u n c t i o n a l potentiometers, which offer better controlling possibilities than the mouse and the keyboard of a computer. Lately, these controllers are combined and built into the body of a master keyboard, giving the opportunity to cover a lot of functions with only one interface. The result of these combinations is called MIDI controllers. MIDI – the abbreviation comes from Musical Instruments Digital Interface, and is a protocol of standard communication, defined in 1980-1982, permitting the electronic and digital musical instruments (electronic keyboard, synthesizer, master keyboards, drums, DAW controllers) to synchronize and communicate with one another. MIDI doesn’t carry audio signals or information, but rather event messages, such as notation, pitch and velocity or control signals for parameters (volume, audio panning, vibrato or clock signals). It is widely used as electronic protocol in music industry. MIDI files don’t require a big storing space because they occupy a rather small place, containing only the event information (like a digital music sheet). The redaction of these events belongs to the soft, the synthesizer, the module and the VSTi-s of the computer. The sounds

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can be heard in real time or mixed and converted into MP3s or Wave files, where the file itself contains the music, not just the information. SMF – Standard MIDI file, meaning the conversion of MIDI information into a standard format that can be seen and read by all types of softs with MIDI protocol.As seen from the above presented illustration, the audio chain is dominated by analog sequences and a single digital sequence, the AD/DA converter (which basically turns digital into analog and analog to digital). The emitted sound of a human voice (analog) gets to the membrane of a microphone (analog), the signal goes through a cable (analog) and reaches the AD/DA converter (digital) that has different interfaces attached to it: a computer, a DAW controller, a synthesizer, GUIs. The sampled sound is converted back to analog and is sent through a cable (analog) to an amplifier (analog), from where it is transmitted through the

loudspeakers (analog) to the human ears (analog).

Conclusion With these technologies, the work of professionals has got much easier, especially in making a post-production, because with the Undo – Redo functions, the sound can be manipulated in infinite way s . F r om t he pe r s pec t i v e o f composers, the situation is no different. Their ideas for a soundtrack can be easily shown to a director at any time during the production, because composing doesn’t require the involvement of live orchestras. However, given sufficient time and money, everything can change. High budget movies have composers and sound designers initially working with VSTis, and record the soundtrack with a live orchestra as well, after the final material has been created. With this mixture, they can offer the soundtrack an almost perfect structure, not only aesthetically, but also technically.

References Abel, Richard and Altman Rick (2001). The Sounds of Early Cinema. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Albright, Daniel (2007). Musicking Shakespeare. A Conflict of Theatres. Rochester: University of Rochester Press. Bíró Yvette (2003). A hetedik művészet. Budapest: Osiris Kiadó. Booth, Gregory (2008). Behind the Curtain: Making Music in Mumbai's Film Studios. New York: Oxford University Press,. Cooke, Mervyn (2008). A History of Film Music. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. Delgado, Maria M, Dan Rebellato (2010). Contemporary European Theatre Directors. London, New York: Routledge. Kalinak, Kathryn (2010). Film Music - A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: University Press. Mason , Nick (2013). Inside Out : O istorie personală a Pink Floyd. București: Ed. Publica. Slobin, Mark (2008). Global Soundtracks:Worlds of Film Music. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press. Internet website www.ro.wikipedia.org

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http://www.ro.wikipedia.org

III. Filmmaker’s remarks

A Creative and Immersive 360 Virtual Reality Experience

Ovidiu GEORGESCU PhD, 24

Film Director and Associated Professor, Dean of the Film Faculty, National University of Theatre and Film “I.L. Caragiale”, Bucharest, Romania

Motto:

“Documentary should act on our hearts, not just our minds; it exists to change how we feel about something.” Michael Rabiger, Professor and Filmmaker

Looking China the Youth Film Project Qinghai 2017 is a program for young filmmakers, other than Chinese, sustained and supported by the Academy of International Communication of Chinese Culture, by the Qinghai Nationalities University and by the Beijing Normal University. I will share with you my experience I have had as a professor in this program. The project was established for one month - July 2017 - in the Qinghai province. I have worked and coordinated there five filmmakers from UK, Russia and Romania trying to develop their 360 Virtual Reality documentary film projects. The result: five creative and immersive 360 VR documentary films and a great understanding about a new world, a new culture and civilization, explored in the Qinghai County - China.

Virtual / Reality / Documentary / Qinghai / China

The storytelling in documentary films remains the same, but the visual and audio perception for the immersive 360 Virtual Reality documentaries is quite different. A simple perspective of the 360 VR shows us the fact that the shooting camera sees the front, the back, on the right and on the left, above and at the bottom, practically everywhere. Therefore, the

Ovidiu Georgescu, Ph.D. (with his Thesis Myth and tradition in the contemporary Northern Cinema), is the 24

Dean of Film Faculty at U.N.A.T.C. “I.L.Caragiale” Bucharest. Screenwriter, director, producer, he makes several films, music videos and commercials film. Filmography: 3 Păzește (2003), the first Romanian independent feature film, Învingătorii (2009); Ultimul Zburător (2014) Books/articles The First Journey through my Scripts, UNATC Press (2015); The Concession, UNATC Press (2009) The DOGMA Manifesto (1995) and The CONCESSION Manifesto (2001), Cinematographic Art&Documentation (2017)

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audience is surrounded by the visual performance and has total freedom to look wherever they want. It is all ‘at the disposal’ of the filmmaker to focus the audience wherever he wants, especially where the main action is taking place.

This can be noticed in all the five 360 VR documentary film projects developed in the Looking China the Youth Film Project Qinghai – July 2017. What can be more challenging for a filmmaker than to discover a new world, a new culture, a new civilization and to explore them in a documentary film and in this particular program, Looking China the Youth Film Project Qinghai – July 2017, in a 360 VR documentary film? All of the topics for these five 360 VR documentaries are very interesting and attractive right from the beginning: the Salar’s community in Haidong, the railway from Xining to Xian, the Regong Thangka old-style paintings, the traditional liqueurs produced in the wine distillery from HuZhu and the Longyangxia Hydropower Station.

Research period

After our arrival in Xining, Qinghai, during the next couple of days we discussed and agreed upon the topics, namely:

1. Train talk (working title)

“Sharing in 360 cinema my personal experience travelling on the first high speed train transfer from Xining to Sian. We will be travelling together while having a train talk with a very special person: Liu Shuang, chief of the train crew. She is a 28 years old girl who is true to her feelings and emotions, true to her ambition of becoming a better person. She is genuine about her heritage, her family tradition and last, but not least, genuine about the unbreakable connection with her birthplace. This is a way for you to hear interesting stories while gazing out the window, viewing this beautiful part of China on the back of a "white horse" that is running with 250 km per hour. Therefore, it's not the destination that matters to us, it’s the journey.”

Film director Eugen Oprina from the National University of Theatre and Film “I.L. Caragiale”, Bucharest, Romania.

(1) Michael Rabiger, Directing the Documentary (Third Edition), page 49, Focal Press, 1998, USA

2. Regong Thangka (working title)

“An immersive 360 virtual reality documentary film, following traditional Thangka artists right through to modern practices. Showing the importance of Thangka art for Tibetan

Buddhist mediation.”

Film director James Fallows from the Oxford Brookes University, UK.

3. Water, fire and wine whispers in HuZhu (working title)

“A story about legacy, tradition and modern times, as a road to the past in a contemporary three-wheeled car. “

Film director Alexandru Ispas from the National University of Theatre and Film “I.L. Caragiale”, Bucharest, Romania.

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The Field of Hope (director: Alexandru Ispas). Poster.

4. LongYangXia - The oasis in the wasteland (working title)

“People who live around LongYangXia Hydropower Station tell their stories about how this station changed their life. Teacher Wang and his friend, who is in charge with hiring the ship’s crew, recall their childhood, when the station was under construction and thousands of people worked there. Engineers and workers describe the machinery and systems of control, as we continue to move from hall to hall. Our journey finishes at the bottom of dam, where the beautiful Yellow River flows out from under concrete wall. LongYangXia is now a peaceful and distinctive place, an oasis in the wasteland.”

Film director Anastasia Kuvaeva from the St. Petersburg State University of Film and Television, Russia.

5. Looking for Salar (working title)

“Is an immersive 360 Virtual Reality documentary film about Salar’s history, told through their traditional poems and songs. It is a documentary that places the viewer in the middle of Salar people, where they read poems and sing.”

Film director Stefan Parlog from the National University of Theatre and Film “I.L. Caragiale”, Bucharest, Romania.

All five filmmakers became familiar with the environments, characters and technical problems encountered when making their 360 VR documentary film projects. During this first period of research, we discussed and thoroughly analyzed, with every one of them, the content and the visual approach for each 360 VR documentary film project. We established, one by one, the storyline and the visual concept.

For example: due to the specificity of shooting in 360 VR, one of the most common matters or issue for all filmmakers that we had to somehow solve was the way they would shoot the interviews with the characters from their 360 VR documentaries. Some of them chose to be lively present in the frame during the shooting of these interviews, others to be the narrator - the voice over who tells us the story. Otherwise, almost every one of them became a ‘present character’ in their documentaries. Another important issue causing debates came from the example mentioned above, objectivity vs subjectivity in a 360 VR documentary film.

The shooting time was set by taking into consideration the particularity of each 360 VR documentary film project, during the last part of the research period.

A good cooperation during the research of a film created the proper conditions for the next step in making this film - the shooting time.

Shooting time

Of course, every filmmaker knows that this is the most important part in producing a documentary film.

In this program - Looking China the Youth Film Project Qinghai – July 2017 - every film director and their crew had a shooting period of four to five days. During this time, the team was of crucial importance. It’s like climbing a mountain: you know how to climb it, but you will need guidance to find your way to the top. This was the main purpose of each Chinese student’s team, to support the filmmaker on their way to shoot the 360 VR documentary films. That entails being familiar with the shooting environments and locations, being a good

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Chinese - English interpreter for the local inhabitants and supporting and assisting by making available to the film director all production knowledge and expertise one has.

Here are some statements related to the experience accumulated by the film directors involved in the program - Looking China the Youth Film Project Qinghai – July 2017 - during the shooting time.

1. Filmmaker Eugen Oprina:

“I had a great time encountering an exotic blend of tradition and technology. Meeting nice and interesting people starting with my team, producers and translator, and of course with Liu Shuang. I met her as one of the usual staff members on the train and by the end of the day, she became the main character of my story. On a more personal note, I was also impressed by the multitude of religions that coexist in the Qinghai province and I have to admit that I was very lucky to taste various local meals which enchanted my taste buds.”

2. Filmmaker James Fallows:

“In this documentary, we visit a modern Thangka art factory and see how it is becoming available to a larger audience. The master invites us into his traditional Tibetan home and we can see from where the Thangka art originated. We also visit a modern Thangka art school which also houses a traditional Thangka art gallery and a museum of important Chinese cultural history. This also shows us how Thangka art is moving with the times and allowing its first female artist to keep the traditional art alive. We finish with a Tibetan Buddhist Temple high in the mountains where we can see how the Thangka art is important to the mediation of monks as it surrounds their daily life.”

3. Filmmaker Alexandru Ispas:

“The technique of barley wine distillation in contemporary times and in old style, combining tradition and technology, impressed me a lot. The days spent in the HuZhu Wine distillery, when we watched the wine gaining identity and personality, like an ancient God, was like a lesson of life narrated by a wise old man.”

4. Filmmaker Anastasiia Kuvaeva:

“The LongYangXia hydropower station impressed me by its spectacular location between rocks and its grandeur. I was also surprised by the gardens and parks around the station, proving that industrial object remained in harmony with its surroundings. And the photovoltaic field reminded me of the science-fiction film ‘Transcendence’. The most unforgettable experience we had was when we were shooting time lapse footage during the night. “

5. Filmmaker Stefan Parlog:

“We shot in XunHua, Gaizi and Dazhuang village. We walked the streets of this beautiful area and asked the people in the street to read Salar poems, while we also interviewed them about their history and traditions. This way, we made a connection between old Salar poems and the new generation of Salar people. I had a wonderful experience meeting the Salar people. They were all very kind and they showed me a lot of hospitality by inviting me into their houses and asking me to have lunch with them, even though I was a complete stranger. Their songs and poems are full of emotions that I can relate to, even if I am a foreigner. I will never forget this beautiful experience.”

Post-production period

Starting with the most specific workflow for a 360 VR films means that they must prepare for editing with proper software, performing stitching, rendering and converting of the

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footage.

During the off-line editing, in the several individual meetings with all five film directors, we had productive discussions concerning the visual and dramaturgical content of each distinct rough cut.

After the on-line editing, when the final cut of their projects was accomplished, we will be able to embark on a journey into the Salar’s community by means of the documentary The White Camel of Salars directed by Stefan Parlog, we will meet interesting people and places on the high speed train from Xining to Xian (Tibet) in the Eugen Oprina’s documentary Train Talk, we will observe Buddhist Temples and old-style Thangka paintings in the documentary Regong Thangka directed by James Fallows, the traditional liqueurs produced in the wine distillery from HuZhu will be revealed by the director Alex Ispas in his documentary The Field of Hope and the story of Qinghai Hydropower Station in the documentary The Diamond of the Plateau directed by Anastasiia Kuvaeva.

It was a great opportunity for me to be a professor in this program, Looking China the Youth Film Project Qinghai – July 2017. Working with filmmakers from UK, Russia and Romania to develop their immersive 360 Virtual Reality documentary film projects in a new cultural environment, the Qinghai province from China, was challenging and a good experience in the communication debate about making an immersive 360 VR documentary film. I was given the fantastic chance to join them on this journey where we met interesting people and amazing places. It is something that I will always remember!

Ovidiu Georgescu, 2017

Dare to believe in your projects and you will discover the world and yourself!

I take the opportunity to address my special thanks for their hospitality, support and comprehension to the inhabitants of the Qinghai province, professors and students from Qinghai Nationalities University and from Beijing Normal University. My entire appreciation goes to the Academy of International Communication of Chinese Culture for making possible this remarkable program named Looking China the Youth Film Project.

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cinematographic art & documentation · bucharest(unatc) - pov hybrid storytelling in virtual...

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